Code of Silence
by NCISVU
Summary: Sometimes doing the right thing can cost you everything but sometimes when you lose everything, you gain the only thing that matters. Tibbs slash. Military AU. Pre-series AU. Hurt Tony.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I originally started writing this as a Big Bang submission a couple years ago but it started getting out of hand and it became clear I wasn't going to finish it in time so I tweaked it, shortened it up and posted a version that was acceptable. I really wanted a chance to tell the whole story though. I've changed some things up a bit but there will be some initial similarities with my story _Conduct Unbecoming_ ,mostly with dialogue.

I'm also using this as a fill for the hostile climate square on my hurt/comfort bingo card.

* * *

 **Code of Silence**

 **Chapter One: Charm and Disarm**

Thirty one year old Jethro Gibbs stood in his basement, looking over the frame of his boat in search of the place he'd stopped sanding that morning before heading to the NCIS office at Camp Pendleton. He wrapped his sanding block in sandpaper as he laid eyes on the spot then grazed his fingers across the line between the smooth surface and the rough one before getting started.

This was what he needed. This was who he was. At least it was who he'd become a couple years prior, after his beloved wife and daughter had been so violently taken from him. Sure, being an NIS—now an NCIS—investigator gave him purpose but at home, in the dark, quiet hours of the early morning, in the absence of little footsteps racing around above him, with no wife to seduce and make love to, his projects absorbed all the love and hurt, anger and pain, happiness and rejoicing for another family's luck or good fortune or mourning for another family's loss. The wood was his therapist and without it he wouldn't survive.

His front door opened and closed on the level above him. The distinctive sound of cowboy boots making their way across the hardwood left no doubt in his mind about who had come to see him. There was only one person who wore cowboy boots in Southern California.

"Probie?!" the voice called.

"Down here," Jethro replied.

Mike Franks made his way through the living room and kitchen to the door that led down to the basement, his boots announcing his arrival before his mouth did. "The hell is this, Probie?" he asked incredulously.

"I dunno, Boss. What does it look like?" Jethro snarked.

"A boat," Mike answered.

Jethro didn't respond but the look on his face clearly said 'do ya think?!'

"In your basement," Mike continued before shaking his head in disbelief. "You know what? I don't wanna know."

Jethro gave a satisfied nod and continued sanding, not even asking the reason for Mike's visit despite his worried curiosity. His boss rarely made house calls. It was usually just an abrupt phone call telling him that there was a case and where he needed to be before the phone clicked in his ear and the line went dead.

"I've got a special assignment for you, Probie," Mike said after a short moment of watching his second sand the frame of the monstrous boat in the too small basement.

Jethro stopped and narrowed his eyes, repeating the words in his head before looking up at his boss once again. "A special assignment?"

Mike nodded as he passed the casefile he'd brought with him to his partner.

Jethro opened it and was immediately greeted by an autopsy photo that would've disturbed him years earlier but had little effect on him after being desensitized. "A burned corpse?"

"That body's been bothering Magnus for the past week," Mike said. "He's got three bodies from Afghanistan, all of them supposedly in a Humvee that rolled over an IED."

"An IED didn't cause this," Jethro said confidently as he pointed at the photograph.

The corners of Mike's mouth twitched up into a barely imperceptible smile but that was the only show of pride. "The other two bodies are in pieces," he continued, "a few burns, lots of shrapnel injuries; they look like they were in a Humvee that rolled over an IED. That guy," he continued, pointing at the autopsy photo in Jethro's hand, "Alex Kiplinger, he's so charred Magnus had trouble extracting DNA. There's no explosive dismemberment and no shrapnel. He looks nothing like his comrades."

"Sort of like a game of which one doesn't belong," Jethro said. "We thinkin' he wasn't in the hummer?" There was no way the soldier had been in the vehicle when it had exploded but was he ever was the question.

"We're suspicious," Mike replied. "I'm sending you to Afghanistan to investigate."

"Afghanistan? Alone?" Jethro asked, suppressing his smile and standing taller.

"Alone," Mike confirmed. "You're ready, Probie. Don't let me down."

Jethro knew he was being tested. His boss was giving him an opportunity to prove himself, a _big_ opportunity and despite the pressure of working a case alone in Afghanistan, Jethro couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of showing he was worthy.

"Don't get too big for your britches, Gunny," Mike warned when he saw the gleam in Jethro's eye. "You're just my eyes in the field. I'm still responsible for all your actions."

"On it, Boss," Jethro said, trying to keep his excitement under control.

"You alright going back over there?" Mike asked gently.

Jethro narrowed his eyes in anger. How dare his boss question him and why was he all of a sudden being kind and gentle? Mike wasn't kind and gentle and Jethro didn't want him to be. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked defensively. He was perfectly capable.

"Do I need to remind you what happened during your last tour, Probie?"

The question sobered Jethro and left him fighting to keep the memories of his past at bay. The last thing he needed was to start getting sentimental. "I'll be fine," he assured his boss.

"Then what're you waiting for?" Mike asked. "Get a move on! Your plane leaves in an hour."

* * *

Twenty eight year old Anthony DiNozzo Jr. was just buttoning up the fly of his desert camos when he heard the knock at his door. People were always knocking on his door. His fellow combat medics loved his sense of humor and trusted him to give them good advice. He was smart, funny and fearless and very popular among his team. The brass was predicting he'd go far—if he made it off the battlefield. Flying into the middle of combat zones to rescue downed servicemen and women wasn't exactly the safest career but like his teammates, Tony was trained to stay alive.

The young medic opened the door bare-chested with his hair a mess, fully expecting to find one of his buddies eager to start the day with a laugh but instead he found an unfamiliar face. His look of surprise relaxed into a grin as he took in the man's tall, well-built frame, his dark hair speckled with silver and the bluest eyes Tony had ever seen. The expression on the guy's face didn't give anything away, which was a challenge Tony was more than willing to accept.

"I was gonna put a shirt on but seeing you standing there makes me wanna take my pants off instead," he said. His mouth had no filter and the man at the door was undeniably attractive.

"Are you seriously flirting with me, DiNozzo?" the man asked. As a federal agent, he'd had plenty of females attempt to flirt their way out of trouble but DiNozzo was the first guy.

"Tony," Tony corrected as he stepped aside so the man could enter the small room he'd been sharing with another medic. "All my lovers call me Tony."

"We're not lovers," the agent replied.

"Not yet." Tony raised his eyebrows in interest and offered his most charming smile.

The agent narrowed his eyes at Tony's cocky confidence. The guy was cute, he'd give him that but he was there to do a job, not find someone to entertain him that night.

"I'm a DiNozzo," Tony explained when he saw the agent's curious expression. "DiNozzos go after what they want, to hell with society's rules."

"That include criminal pursuits?"

"Ahh," Tony hummed, "you're an investigator, investigating a crime." That explained how the guy knew his name. "Sounds like you're looking for Senior."

"Special Agent Gibbs and no," the agent said with a shake of his head, "I'm looking for you, _Tony_."

"See!" Tony exclaimed. "I knew the attraction was mutual. We _are_ going to end up in bed together, Agent Gibbs." Tony brushed his fingers down the agents arm and intertwined them with his.

Jethro gave Tony's hand a squeeze before separating them. "Not in the way you're thinking."

"We'll see," Tony said with his most charming smile.

"What happened to your roomie?" Jethro asked, nodding towards the stripped bunk.

"Kip? He's not coming back," Tony said, briefly glancing at the bunk that had been vacant for the last week, "so we can do whatever we want in here. We won't be interrupted."

"What happened to him?" Jethro repeated, ignoring Tony's advances.

"You've obviously done your research, Agent Gibbs, so I'm guessing you already know this but he's dead."

"I wanna know how he got that way," Jethro said.

Tony shrugged halfheartedly. "I heard the Humvee he was traveling in blew up. Lots of IEDs over here. That's why I'm happy to travel by air; not that that totally eliminates my risk of coming across one. Plus you have to worry about RPGs up in the sky."

"What day did the hummer blow up?" Jethro asked.

Tony thought back before answering. "Last Tuesday which would be, what? June 11?"

"Where were you?"

"I work the same shift as Kip; I was off duty," Tony answered, sobering even more before adding, "I didn't get the call out."

Jethro was struck by the regret in Tony's voice. "Scuttlebutt's you and Kip were tight," he prodded. Both were Navy Medics, recruited to help with the overwhelming need for medics on land. Terrorists were most active during the summer months, making it the busiest season for the medics. The Air Force and Army were having trouble keeping up and with things amping up, the Department of Defense had stationed Navy Medics at Forward Operating Bases in hopes of getting to wounded troops faster and saving more lives.

"You've been checking me out," Tony said with a grin. "I'm flattered." He looked over at his buddy's bunk then back to the investigator. "Kip is the best—the best medic, the best friend, the best husband, the best dad. He's tough and respected and damn good at everything he sets his mind too. I lucked out being his roommate and having him as a battle buddy."

Jethro let Tony's words sink in before correcting the man. "Was," he said, handing Tony a photograph of the fallen soldier. "He's dead."

The smile dropped off Tony's face at the correction. He hadn't realized he'd been referring to Kip in the present tense. "And you think I had something to do with his death?" he asked, unable to peel his eyes away from the photograph.

Jethro watched the tension in Tony's shoulders grow. The medic was uncomfortable which was good for him from an investigative standpoint. Discomfort often got people talking. He knew Tony had nothing to do with his buddy's death but he suspected the man knew more than he was telling him. He also suspected Kip made it back to his room at some point on the night he died and he wanted to know everything there was to know about that. He just needed to get a good enough read on Tony that he could figure out how to get the information out of him. "I think Kiplinger was murdered and his body was burned to destroy evidence. I don't think he was ever in that Humvee with the other two who died."

"I think you don't have a clue what you're dealing with here, Agent Gibbs, and as much as it pains me to say this without having the opportunity to get to know you properly, it'd be safer for everyone if you hopped on a plane and headed stateside, back to wherever you came from."

"That's not gonna happen, so why don't you enlighten me," Jethro replied, completely unfazed. He didn't mind working for information and he enjoyed the challenge of getting people like Tony to open up to him.

Tony pursed his lips, staring beyond the Navy cop at an invisible spot on the wall as he tried to figure out how much to tell the agent and how, exactly, to phrase it.

"Out with it, DiNozzo," Jethro ordered, not wanting to let someone who was obviously very quick on his feet have a chance to put a story together.

"Impatient! Bet you're rough in bed," Tony guessed.

"Anthony," Jethro warned, trying to keep the conversation on track. Apparently after eight months of celibacy, Tony had a one track mind.

"I have something for you," Tony said, unlocking the trunk at the end of his bed. He pulled out the contents, filling his bed with all the personal possessions he owned. Once he got down to the bottom of the trunk, Tony glanced at the door to make sure it was closed before pulling out a notebook and handing it to Jethro. "Don't let anyone see you with that," he said, "and you didn't get it from me."

Jethro opened the notebook and found dated entries written in what looked like male script. "Kip's?"

Tony nodded. "His journal. I swiped it when rumors about his death started flying."

"Did he come back to your room that night? The night he died?"

Tony shrugged and shook his head back and forth, unwilling to answer the question.

"Where's his bedding? His mattress? His clothing? The rest of his things?"

"Gone," Tony answered simply.

"Was he murdered?"

"I can't," Tony replied sadly as he shook his head.

"Tony—"

"You ever serve, Agent Gibbs?" Tony asked, cutting the man off.

"Marines," Jethro replied, "Gunnery Sergeant; Scout Sniper." Normally he wouldn't have answered that kind of question or he would've just stopped at 'Marines' but part of him wanted to impress the young man in front of him.

"We're stuck in a country with a bunch of people who want nothing more than to see Americans die a slow, painful death," Tony said. "The only person you can rely on is the one heading into battle next to you and both of you have to put _all_ your faith in your COs."

"Yeah, I've seen combat," Jethro replied.

"But not with these COs," Tony said with a dangerous twinkle in his eye.

"What's different about your COs?" Jethro asked, wondering if he was finally getting somewhere with the case.

Tony paused to think again, still cautious about giving too much away. "Well, let's just say your time over here might be a little easier if you're open to certain things."

"What kind of things?" Jethro asked.

Tony shrugged, the carefree smile returning to his face. "I'm not a very open person, Agent Gibbs," he paused briefly, nibbling on his lip endearingly, "except with you."

"You have sex on the brain," Jethro muttered, attempting to hide his amusement as he jotted down what Tony was telling him.

"Did you look in the mirror this morning?" Tony asked. "How can I not?"

"I spent all night on a cargo plane," Jethro muttered, his cheeks coloring slightly at the blatant flirting. He was doing his best to ignore it but Tony wasn't bad looking himself and he was standing there with no shirt on and the band of his American Eagle underwear showing above the waist of his slightly too big for him desert camo pants. Eight months on tour had a way of shrinking waistlines, no matter how much you ate. "Are you saying your COs are soliciting bribes?" he asked, hoping the questions would keep the conversation on topic.

"Um, it's more like a 'these are your options, you make your decision' kind of situation," Tony replied, "not that there aren't bribes involved. But, yeah… I said what I said. You feel free to draw your own conclusions."

Tony may have had a smart mouth on him but he was also very intelligent and Jethro couldn't fault him for attempting to protect himself. He also couldn't decide if he wanted to slap the man upside the head or kiss him senseless.

"Unless you wanna make out, I should probably get going," Tony said, grabbing his shirt. "I'm on latrine duty before my shift. I'm being punished."

"Why are you being punished?" Jethro asked.

"Why not?" Tony replied with a laugh. "I may have sewn up the LT's fly while he was in the shower. Apparently he didn't find it as funny as I did."

Jethro's hardnosed expression melted into an amused smirk. He dug his wallet out of his back pocket, pulled a business card out and handed it to Tony.

"Is this for a booty call?" Tony asked excitedly.

"If you remember anything else," Jethro corrected. "I'll be around until I get this case wrapped up." He knew he'd see Tony again. The guy knew a lot more than he was letting on but he'd have to find a way to get Tony to trust him before he felt safe opening up. Until then at least Jethro had somewhere to start.

"It's been a pleasure, Agent Gibbs," Tony said, extending his arm.

Jethro reached for Tony's hand and let the man pull it to his lips and press a kiss to his palm. The younger man closed Jethro's fingers around the kiss, as if he were holding onto it and smiled at him.

"That's for you to keep."

Jethro gave a playful roll of his eyes and attempted to ignore the fluttering of his heart as he turned and left.

* * *

Despite his exhaustion resulting from a not very peaceful night's sleep on transatlantic flight aboard a cargo plane, Jethro spent the rest of his day digging into the records of Cole Hammond, Tony's CO, and JD Biggs, the second in command. At only twenty nine years old, Hammond was young to be in command and it hadn't taken much digging to learn he hadn't climbed the ranks and earned his spot in leadership respectfully like others in his position; it had been all but handed to him by his well respected father before the man had retired. Regardless, he had no marks against him and nothing suspicious on his record.

Biggs was a couple years older than Hammond and still had a little frat boy inside of him but he'd climbed the ranks and fought for his position. He'd earned the respect of those under him which led to him being handpicked to oversee the combat medic unit at Camp Phoenix. Biggs' only drawback was that he seemed to be easily influenced and took his cues from those above him in the chain of command. If Hammond had something going on, there was a good chance Biggs was in on it. Under other leadership the young man most likely would've done well and had a long career ahead of him but depending on what NCIS uncovered, both men would see their careers come to an abrupt end.

In spite of an undeserving CO and naïve second, Jethro didn't have much to go on. He had the one week old, burned up corpse of Alex Kiplinger and the burned out shell of the Humvee the medic had allegedly died in. He had the journal the man had kept which, at face value, hadn't offered much and he had Kip's too smart for his own good bunkmate—Anthony DiNozzo Jr. All in all, despite a day spent investigating, he had a hell of a lot more questions than answers and he wasn't the least bit happy about his lack of progress.

Jethro pulled out Magnus's autopsy report and the photographs of what was left of Kip's body and laid them out on the bed in front of him. There was no doubt in his mind that Kip hadn't been in the hummer when the IED had blown it up. The fact that his body had been burned so severely and his COs had lied and attempted to hide his cause of death led the agent to believe foul play but why and how and where? What was going on under the surface and what did all the riddle-like answers Tony had given him that morning mean? Were both Hammond and Biggs involved? Was there anyone else? Had any more murders been passed off as combat injuries?

He decided he needed to talk to Tony again and this time he wanted answers instead of more riddles. A reluctant phone call to Hammond revealed Tony was on duty and would be until midnight so his questions would have to wait until the following morning.

Jethro packed up his casefiles for the time being then headed for the mess hall and grabbed some chow to eat in his room before finally settling in for some much needed sleep.

* * *

Jethro was completely dead to the world until a strong hand clamped down over his mouth. He struggled and resisted, trying to break free in his sleep altered state until he realized it was Tony and let himself relax and his heart rate return to normal.

"I coulda kissed you instead," Tony whispered with a smirk in response to the glare he was getting from Jethro. "Come on, get up. We got places to be."

"What time is it?" Jethro asked, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and sitting up.

"Zero four," Tony answered. "Come on. Get dressed."

"Now who's impatient?" Jethro asked as he quickly dressed.

"I like it rough in bed too," Tony replied, recalling their earlier conversation.

"Where are we going?" Jethro asked, combing his fingers through his hair in an effort to smooth it out a little after slipping his feet into his boots.

" _You_ are going to the motor pool," Tony answered. "Ask to borrow one of the Jeeps; tell 'em you can't sleep and you wanna go for a drive but that you'll stay on base. _Don't_ say my name," he added firmly.

"Alright, where will you be?" Jethro asked.

"You know the road that runs behind the mess hall?" Tony waited for Jethro to nod before continuing. "Drive slow enough I can hop in. Don't stop."

"Okay," Jethro replied.

Twenty minutes and a suspicious motor pool attendant later, Jethro was putzing along the back road, waiting for Tony to appear from the shadows. He had no clue what was going on or why he trusted Tony but he did and there was no turning back, not that he wanted to. He did as Tony had requested and didn't stop when he saw him emerge from the shadows but instead slowed his pace to a crawl and offered the man a hand as he pulled himself into the moving vehicle with ease.

"Did they give you any trouble?" Tony asked, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was around.

"I think the guy was a little suspicious," Jethro admitted.

"Crap," Tony muttered. "Probably just because you're a new face around here."

"What's going on, Tony?" Jethro asked, his curiosity finally getting the best of him. "Where are we going?"

"When you get to this intersection up here, turn your headlights off and make a left," Tony instructed. "You have to promise me you'll never mention this place to anyone."

"Is this related to my case or your ongoing effort to get into my pants?" Jethro asked suspiciously.

"Your case," Tony answered, "but if you're finally gonna let me in your pants, I know where we can do that too."

Jethro simply smiled.

Tony navigated while Jethro drove through the backroads of the base, the landscape flat and somewhat barren, with very little to hide their location whenever Jethro's foot touched the brake pedal. Tony understood the risk fully and ignored it while Jethro still wasn't sure what he was getting himself into. What felt like quite a bit of time later despite only a matter of minutes passing, Tony pointed out a spot for Jethro to pull over and the agent did so, turning the Jeep off to camouflage their location once they were parked.

Both men got out of the vehicle and Tony only had to look around briefly before he found what he was looking for.

"Here," he said, pointing at the ground ahead of him.

Jethro stepped up next to Tony and saw the remains of what looked to have been a pretty significant bonfire. He pulled his flashlight out to investigate but Tony grabbed his hand and shook his head at the man.

"The end of a lit cigarette can be seen from miles away out here," Tony explained. "You turn that flashlight on and you might as well shine a spotlight on our location. Use the moonlight."

Jethro wasn't happy, knowing he risked missing clues and possible evidence with no light to help him but understanding that the risk to both Tony and himself was even greater if they were discovered so he nodded his head and handed Tony a pair of gloves when the man held his hand out.

It wasn't long before Tony found a tooth and Jethro uncovered a single, charred dog tag which he couldn't read in the limited light. Tony took the evidence bag he'd put it in and read the name while Jethro bagged the tooth Tony had found.

"It's Kip's," he informed the investigator, his stomach dropping at the discovery.

"How'd you know about this place?" Jethro asked as they continued the search.

"I pay attention," Tony answered.

"How'd you know Kip's body was burned here?" It had to be Kip's body. The soldier had been horrifically burned and there were teeth in a massive fire pit on the base he'd been stationed at. There was no way that was a coincidence. Jethro didn't believe in 'em.

"I didn't," Tony replied with a shrug. "I suspected when you told me you didn't think he was in the hummer. There was a bonfire going when I finished my shift on the night after Kip died. I was rounding up the guys to roast hotdogs and make s'mores but Hammond told us to hit the rack. He said they were burning classified and top secret documents that we weren't authorized to see."

"Did that seem strange?" Jethro asked.

"Not really," Tony answered. "Not at the time. We're going home next month and the same thing happened at the end of my last tour. Anything we're not required to keep on file and we don't want the enemy getting their hands on gets burned. It's mostly medical reports from Americans we picked up, routes we take, alternate routes, danger zones to avoid, tactics, maneuvers, stuff like that."

"They were burning a lot more than paper out here," Jethro said, holding up evidence bags of teeth and the leftover collar of a shirt. "Any idea whose this is?" he asked, indicating the partially burned coffee cup in his other hand.

Tony's heart sank even more as he stared at the cup. "It's Kip's," he answered quietly. "His wife sent it to him for his birthday. It had pictures of his kids on it. He never let that thing out of his sight."

Jethro bagged up the fragile cup and tagged it, watching Tony carefully.

Tony handed the bag with the dog tag in it back to Jethro and frowned, the reality of what happened to his friend slapping him in the face with enough force to draw the air out of his lungs. He was generally pretty good at hiding how he was feeling but there was no covering up the fact that he felt physically ill at their current discovery.

"Any idea who was at this bonfire?" Jethro asked gently, mindful of Tony's feelings about losing his battle buddy and roommate.

"I wasn't here," Tony answered with a shrug.

"That's not what I asked," Jethro said.

"I want to but I can't," Tony said and Jethro wasn't sure if it was fear or regret in his voice. "I'm sticking my neck way out for you but I gotta look out for me, too."

"Give me something, Tony," Jethro said, almost pleading.

Tony thought for a moment before responding. "Corruption always starts at the top. Troops are trained to follow orders."

As badly as Jethro wanted to slam Tony's body up against the Jeep and interrogate him until he got his answers before fucking him senseless, he understood Tony's need to protect himself and he knew Tony was off limits to him. He had a case to solve and his hands were somewhat tied when it came to protecting his informant in Afghanistan. Until that changed, he just had to accept whatever Tony was willing to give him and continue working on getting more out of the man.

"As much as I love spending time with you, we really need to get back," Tony said regretfully. "The sun'll be up soon."

Jethro nodded and followed Tony back to the Jeep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Blood Pizza**

Jethro lost himself in thought as he walked across the tarmac from the housing section of the base to the command post. He'd been on the ground in Afghanistan for nearly twenty four hours. It was time to check in with his boss. More than anything, he wanted to get his thoughts together and deliver a well put together presentation that earned him the man's respect and proved he was the right person for the job but the serious lack of information was making that tricky.

The case seemed to be getting more and more complicated by the minute, not to mention dangerous. He found himself dropped right in the middle of a winner take all game of cat and mouse. The loser would end up with jail time at best and six feet under at worst. With stakes that high, he had to tread lightly for the sake of everyone involved, especially his informant.

He was so consumed with rehearsing his speech to his boss and trying to figure out how to bullshit the man without him knowing he was being bullshitted that he didn't even notice Tony approaching from behind.

"Lookin' for me?" the corpsmen asked, falling into place next to Jethro.

"I dunno. Were you lost?" Jethro teased. He greeted the man with a friendly smile and a tilt of his chin. Despite their middle of the night adventure, Tony appeared bright eyed and ready to face the day. "Still on latrine duty?"

"Last day!" Tony replied happily.

"Until your next prank."

"You already know me so well."

Jethro subtly glanced around, making sure they were alone before lowering his voice enough that only Tony could hear him. "Come by my room tonight?"

Tony's face brightened up even more. "Why, Special Agent Gibbs, do you have something special planned for us? Sex in the desert is on my bucket list, you know. And there's just something about the threat of danger that makes everything feel so much more intense."

"I'll give you points for persistence. How about a nice… quiet…" Jethro drew out his words and paused for dramatic effect before adding, "conversation."

"Not as good as sex but it's a start."

"About the case," Jethro finished.

"I'm sensing that's gonna be a mood killer."

"With you? I doubt it."

"And again, you already know me so well," Tony replied, grinning from ear to ear. "I don't get off till midnight, maybe later if we get a last minute call out."

"I'll be up."

"See ya then," Tony replied, bumping fists with Jethro before cutting off in a different direction.

Jethro watched him go for a moment before calling after him. "Hey, Tony." He waited for the man to turn and look at him before continuing. "Watch your six out there."

Tony's smile was genuine and his salute playful before he disappeared into the mess hall to grab some chow before he got started on latrine duty.

Jethro looked in his direction one more time before opening the door to the command center and stepping inside. There were four neatly organized workstations in the open room with multiple functions at each one. Lining the walls were flat screen TVs, one of them silently playing the news with subtitles running across the bottom of the screen and the others with live drone footage, maps of their operating area and a list of the current cases they were working.

There was a constant dull thrum of alarms going off and phones ringing and at each work station there were men to answer the phones and man the radios that connected them with helicopters, hospitals, convoys and troops on the ground. Jethro watched the barely controlled chaos for a moment, taking it all in as everyone moved around the room doing their part to get medical aid to those in need and realized there was a part of him that missed being in the military. It had started out as a way to escape his troubled past in a tiny town in Pennsylvania but quickly became so much more than that as his DIs took an angry teenager and molded him into one of the few, the proud. The memory had him standing a little taller and made his insides swell with pride.

"Agent Gibbs?"

"That's me."

"Staff Sergeant Sullivan, Sir," the Marine said. There was a team of Marines sharing the base with the Navy corpsmen and as the communication hub, the command center was used by both Marines and Sailors. "We've got a room set up for you if you'll just follow me."

"Thank you," Jethro replied, following the young Marine.

Sullivan led the way to a small room just off the main room. There was a laptop set up on a table with a single chair. It offered a little privacy and was much quieter than the main room. The man connected him to the NCIS offices at Camp Pendleton and in no time at all Mike Franks was staring back at them from the other side of the world.

"If you have any questions, Sir."

Jethro nodded his thanks before Sullivan left then sat down in the chair in front of the laptop.

"What do you have for me, Probie?"

"It's messy and complicated," Jethro replied. "Looks like Magnus was right though. Kiplinger wasn't in the Humvee when it exploded. An informant took me to a fire pit where I suspect his body was burned."

"Was this informant able to tell you anything else?" Mike asked.

"He's hesitant but he's just protecting his ass. It appears at least one of the COs is dirty."

"I was afraid of that," Mike admitted. A lie that big from a war zone on the other side of the world almost definitely had to involve someone fairly high up in the chain of command. "Should I bring the team over?"

Jethro knew full well that the question was another test. "No," he answered confidently. "I'm walking on eggshells over here and I'm afraid if we bring in too many people too fast, everybody'll clam up and we won't get anything. Let me keep working my source, Boss."

"Good call, Probie," Mike stated proudly. "I'll have Vera look into the commanding officers and the lab's already started processing the evidence you sent back. Watch you six out there and keep me informed. Lemme know if you need anything else."

"Thank you, Boss."

* * *

Tony whistled as he stepped into the last bathroom on the list of bathrooms he was responsible for cleaning. Starting his morning off with a little banter between him and Jethro had made his good mood even better and the invitation to the man's room that night had pushed him over top.

He continued whistling as he made sure the stalls were fully stocked with toilet paper and filled the paper towel holders and soap dispensers. He cleaned the sinks before moving on to the urinals and finally the stalls. He was just finishing up in the last stall when he heard the door open and close.

Tony called out a cheerful greeting as he backed out of the stall but found himself backing into a large body. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, attempting to turn around.

"Shut up," the irritated voice of the man behind him replied as he quickly immobilized Tony and wrapped an arm around his neck.

Tony resisted the urge to fight as he was shoved up against the wall. He tried to speak but the arm putting pressure on his windpipe prevented it.

"I know you've been talking to that investigator, DiNozzo," the voice said. It was muffled, as if something were covering the man's mouth, and Tony couldn't see who was standing behind him but he had a pretty good guess. "This is just a warning," the man continued, "a very _nice_ warning."

Tony tried once again to speak but failed. All his effort earned him was less air as the man tightened his hold around Tony's neck.

A KA-BAR appeared in front of the corpsmen and before he even realized what was happening, there was a clean line drawn across his midsection and the knife came to rest firmly against his neck. Tony held his breath and lifted himself up on his tip-toes hoping his neck wouldn't meet the same fate his torso just had. The wince of pain on his face was the only thing that gave away his hurt and fear.

"If I catch you talking to him again, I won't be so nice."

The knife disappeared and the arm around Tony's neck tightened even more until the world faded and Tony's body dropped to the bathroom floor in a crumpled heap.

* * *

Jethro's foot wiggled back and forth uncontrollably as he checked his watch for the seventh time. It was almost 1:00 in the morning. Where was Tony? He reminded himself that the man might be late if he got a last minute call out and told himself not to worry but he knew it wasn't worry that had him so anxious.

"What the hell's gotten into you, gunny?" he muttered to himself. He hadn't been that giddy on his first date and he wasn't even going on a date with Tony.

It had probably been a bad idea to invite the guy to his room but he'd done it under the guise of needing a private place to discuss the case and that wasn't a total lie. He'd just have to use his willpower to ward off Tony's continuous advances. It wasn't like anything was going to happen anyways. They were in a warzone.

He rolled his eyes at his own foolishness as he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Frequent trips to empty his bladder were an unfortunate side effect of his coffee addiction and he'd had more than usual that evening thanks to his nervousness about Tony's impending visit. He'd never admit it out loud but he'd been looking forward to it all day.

As soon as he lowered his zipper the door to his room opened and closed causing his heart to skip a beat. He suddenly wished he had more time to prepare. "Pull yourself together, Marine," he ordered under his breath.

"Gettin' all spiffed up for me in there, Agent Gibbs?" Tony called.

"Something like that," Jethro answered.

"Well don't do too much because I think you're handsome just the way you are."

Jethro finished up then rinsed his hands and stepped out just in time to see Tony closing his uniform jacket over a bloody undershirt. "What happened?" The question came out panicked, angry, curious and upset all at the same time.

"Nothing," Tony answered nonchalantly.

He offered one of his patented award winning smiles, hoping to distract the investigator but Jethro ignored the man's charm, opened his uniform jacket and realized there was a clean slash through the middle of the blood stain.

"Oh that? That's not my blood," Tony lied. "One of the patients we picked up today squirted all over me. It doesn't look good for him."

"There's no blood on the outside of your uniform," Jethro said. "How do you explain that?" He already knew the man was lying—it was against regulations to remove any part of your uniform in the field, but he'd play along for a minute.

When Tony couldn't come up with an answer, Jethro lifted the man's undershirt and found what appeared to be an entire box of Band-Aids adhered to his abdomen, most of them covered in bloody fingerprints and smudges.

"I have a dangerous job," Tony explained weakly.

"This didn't happen on the job," Jethro replied. Game over. He didn't want to play anymore.

"You don't know that," Tony countered with an awkward chuckle.

"Tony, you're a corpsmen and you work with corpsmen, the best over here. If this had happened on the job, you wouldn't be taped up like a kindergartner. Take your shirt off."

Tony's narrow eyed expression relaxed back into the happy go lucky smile that was usually on his face at that suggestion. "Gladly! But I think I might need a little help. Every time I move I pull the cut open again."

Getting Tony's uniform jacket off was fairly easy but his shirt proved to be a little trickier. Jethro helped Tony ease one of his arms out then carefully tugged it over his head and off the other arm. Once the man was bare chested, he noticed the cut extended beneath the hem of his pants.

"So I had a little accident," Tony said, growing slightly uncomfortable under Jethro's studious gaze. He was still trying to blow the whole situation off and Jethro still wasn't letting him.

"The hell it was. Lie down." The investigator indicated the bed with a tilt of his head as he rolled his sleeves up.

"Okay, but only because it's you, Agent Gibbs. I usually don't crawl into bed with people until at least the third date."

Jethro rolled his eyes and did his best to hide his smirk by turning to grab the trash can from the corner of the small room. He sat down next to Tony on the bed and looked the man's upper half over. There was so much blood it was hard to see what was what and the Band-Aids were covering what he really needed to see. There was a telling bruise across Tony's neck but Jethro decided not to call him on it yet. Instead he tucked a single finger beneath the hem of Tony's desert camo pants and the band of his underwear and nudged them down far enough he could find the end of the Band-Aid trail.

Tony's breath caught as Jethro's fingers found their way closer and closer to his interested dick. He undid his fly with one hand and pushed the left side of his pants and underwear out of the way, giving Jethro more room to work.

"Anybody else know about this?" Jethro asked as he started peeling away the endless number of Band-Aids.

"You're not even supposed to know about it, Agent Gibbs. A guy can't even get a little privacy around here," Tony joked with a sly smile on his face.

Jethro smiled openly. "This is gonna hurt," he said when he'd made it down to the Band-Aids that were adhered directly to Tony's skin.

"There's nothing wrong with a little pain. It's actually kind of a turn on. Or maybe that's just your hands on me. Whatever it is, I'm getting hard." Tony's jovial attitude may have been an attempt to hide his discomfort but the sweat pouring off his forehead was giving him away.

"Keep it in your pants, Tony," Jethro replied distractedly as he continued peeling Band-Aids off sensitive areas of Tony's body but he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering towards the growing bulge in the man's underwear. "Why didn't you have one of your buddies patch you up?"

"Are you getting turned on too, Agent Gibbs?" Tony asked, ignoring the man's question. "Your pants look like they're getting tight."

Jethro looked down at the front of his pants and noticed Tony was right. He readjusted slightly, hoping to hide his obvious interest then continued peeling away the last few Band-Aids. "Who did this to you?" he asked. The question made him sick to his stomach. Had he caused this? Was Tony being threatened because he'd helped him? Did somebody find out Tony had taken him to the fire pit? Maybe he didn't want to know the answer after all but it was his job to know.

"I don't know," Tony answered.

"Tony—"

"I don't know!" Tony insisted.

Jethro removed the last Band-Aid, revealing a five inch gash caked in blood that was in various stages of congealing. A little prodding revealed it wasn't life threateningly deep but it definitely needed more than a box of Band-Aids if it was ever going to heal.

"There's a medical kit in my pocket," Tony said, pointing towards the cargo pocket on the pant leg next to Jethro.

Jethro retrieved the small medical kit and set it aside on top of the casefiles on his nightstand. "Any more boo-boos I should know about?" he asked, looking Tony's body over.

"No," Tony answered, "but you can strip me naked and have a look anyways, if you want."

"I think you'd enjoy that a little too much." Jethro's soft smile faded as his eyes once again landed on the bruises on Tony's neck. "He had you in a headlock," he said, gently running his fingers across the marks. "What did he say to you?"

"You know, same ole, same ole. All the normal stuff. Where's the rest of your team?"

"Camp Pendleton. Did this happen because you talked to me?"

"I can take care of myself," Tony said firmly.

"Looks like someone got the better of you today," Jethro replied gently. "Those bruises weren't on your neck this morning and that cut wasn't on your abdomen yesterday." He waited for an explanation but got no response from Tony. "Go take a shower," he said, nodding towards the bathroom. "I'll patch you up when you get out."

"My very own doctor," Tony said happily.

"I'm no doctor but I've superglued a cut or two before," Jethro replied. "It's either that or I take you to base medical."

Tony quickly shook his head. "Can't go to base medical."

"That's what I thought," Jethro said with a worried sigh before motioning towards the bathroom once again. "Go on."

Twenty minutes later, Tony was lying on Jethro's bed once again with a towel draped over his uninjured leg and groin while Jethro cleaned his wound with the supplies Tony had brought along with him.

"What was the threat?" Jethro prodded gently. "Someone obviously threatened you." It didn't take a trained investigator to know that was the reason for the bruises on Tony's neck.

"I'm supposed to stop talking to you," Tony answered reluctantly.

Jethro's body tensed at the confirmation of his earlier fears. "Yet here you are again," he ground out, more angry at himself for not protecting Tony than anyone else. He _had_ been the cause of Tony's injuries. He should've known the man would be in danger after all he'd done to help him.

"Nothing can come between true love, Agent Gibbs."

"Damn it, Tony, this isn't a game. I can help you but you have to trust me."

"I do trust you," Tony replied, taken aback by the angry accusation.

"Then tell me who did this to you!"

"I don't know. I didn't see him."

"But you heard him."

"His voice was muffled. I think there was something covering his mouth."

Jethro sighed in frustration, angrily throwing the wipe he'd used to clean Tony's cut into the trash can before grabbing another. "Let's try it this way instead," he said, forcing himself to calm down enough he could finish patching Tony up without causing him any further discomfort. Whoever had attacked Tony was probably involved in the case he was working. If he solved that, he could keep Tony safe. "It seems reasonable to assume Kiplinger made it back to his bunk at some point on the night he died. Otherwise, why would his bedding and mattress be missing? Did you see or hear anything?"

"I never sleep well on deployment," Tony admitted, watching as Jethro skillfully glued the cut on his abdomen closed after he'd finished cleaning it. "I never wanted to keep Kip up so I usually went for a run or laid out under the stars or played cards with the night guards or whatever."

"You weren't in your room that night."

"Sorry," Tony replied apologetically.

"Rule six," Jethro grumped. "Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness."

"Whose rule is that?"

"Mine."

"Cool! Got any more?"

"Yeah. Lots." Tony's excitement was met by Jethro's muttering.

"Lay 'em on me!" Tony said.

"Later," Jethro replied, deep in thought. How in the hell was he supposed to solve this seemingly unsolvable case with such little information and so much danger? He was tempted to put his fist through the wall but that would only make things worse.

"What do you know so far?" Tony asked cautious of Jethro's anger over the lack of details.

Jethro looked at Tony for a long moment before deciding it would be nice to have someone to talk the case over with. Tony seemed like a safe bet and he was already knee deep in it. "Kip wasn't in the Humvee like it was reported," he said, securing steri-strips over the cut to hold it together. "He was murdered; maybe accidentally but probably on purpose. Based on what you've told me, at least one of your COs are dirty."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tony interrupted. "I never said that."

"Not in so many words," Jethro said. "I'll keep your name out of it."

"What else do you know?" Tony asked.

"Hammond's Daddy got him this promotion," Jethro answered, "and guys who don't earn their place in leadership are usually shitty leaders."

"That's a good start," Tony said. "When's the last time someone told you a bedtime story, Agent Gibbs?"

Jethro narrowed his eyes and cocked his head in confusion, prompting Tony to scoot over and pat the bed next to him.

"Sit with me. I know one that I think you'll like."

Jethro settled in the bed next to Tony with his back against the headboard and waited as patiently as he could while Tony made a show of fluffing the single pillow on the bed and making himself comfortable.

"Once upon a time, about five weeks ago, I was walking back to my room early in the morning, like two o'clock or something," Tony said, doing his best to recall the memory. "I happened to run into," he paused, thinking hard before finally continuing, " _someone_ and there was no hiding the fact that this person was high as a kite and I'm not talking about smoking a joint to take the edge off. They were high. _High_ high. At first I thought it was a gag or something but this was no gag."

"Who, Tony?" Jethro prompted. "I can't do anything with partial details."

Tony sighed dramatically but he was obviously conflicted about how much to tell the investigator. He glanced over towards the other man, their eyes meeting briefly but long enough that Tony knew he could trust Jethro with his secrets. "Biggs," he replied, "JD Biggs."

Jethro nodded, tucking the information away. "Keep going."

"Biggs didn't say anything about it or bring it up at all but the next night, after Kip and I got off duty, Biggs showed up at our door with pizza and beer. I don't know how he got beer in a dry country but I didn't complain. Pizza and beer is one of my weaknesses." He paused and let his eyes very obviously rake over Jethro's body. "You're one of my weaknesses too, Agent Gibbs."

"Focus, Tony," Jethro coaxed.

"Right," Tony said. "After Biggs left our room, I of course, was ready to dug in but Kip was cautious. I told him about catching Biggs the previous night and how the treat was probably a bribe to keep quiet about it but that didn't ease Kip's nerves any. He called it blood pizza and didn't want anything to do with it so we ended up throwing it away."

"You didn't eat the pizza?"

Tony shrugged. "Kip had a point. At first I was blinded by my stomach but it was a bribe and I won't let myself be bought so easily."

"What'd you guys do with the pizza and beer?"

"Threw it away. We were gonna take it back to Biggs but it was late and we were both tired and kinda afraid of what condition we might find the dude in. Why?"

"I was just wondering if Biggs knew that you guys didn't accept his bribe. If you'd taken the pizza back to him—"

"He might take it as an insult," Tony guessed.

"Or consider you guys a threat," Jethro said. "Maybe Kip ended up doing something that Biggs found threatening to whatever he's got going on over here and he was killed over it."

"You think Biggs woulda come after Kip and I if we'd given the pizza and beer back?" Tony asked.

"I think it's definitely a possibility," Jethro replied.

"Suddenly I feel very lucky to be alive," Tony said, trying to keep his tone light and playful although the look in his eyes hid none of the horror he felt as the reality of the situation hit him. "Maybe we should have life affirming sex right here, right now."

"Not gonna happen," Jethro replied, though he was clearly amused.

"It was worth a shot." Tony was quiet for a brief moment before looking over at Jethro. "Um, Agent Gibbs?"

"You can call me Jethro." Jethro didn't like the disturbed version of Tony that seemed to be surfacing one bit and he hated even more that it was his own commanding officer who'd struck fear in the man. Wanting to counteract that, he brought his hand up and began combing his fingers through Tony's still damp hair, hoping to soothe and comfort the man.

"Jethro."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Biggs was in it alone?"

"Not likely," Jethro answered. "I'd put money on Hammond being in this up to his eyeballs. He wouldn't let you go to the bonfire and Biggs had to have help moving Kip's body. Hammond's the most likely accomplice."

"Um... in that case, maybe I should tell you another bedtime story."

"Okay," Jethro replied patiently.

"Once upon a time," Tony started again, though the playfulness was long gone from his voice, "sometime last week, we picked up this woman, an Afghan woman. She'd taken some shrapnel to the head so she was in and out of consciousness, dazed and confused and just, not all there mentally." He paused for a long time, making Jethro wonder if he was going to continue.

"Keep going," Jethro coaxed gently.

"She was moaning and groaning," Tony continued as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. "They were these loud, pained, horrible noises that grate on your nerves even over the noise from the chopper. It was bad. When she quieted down, I looked over and one of the medics had his hand over her mouth and nose, cutting off her air supply. He was yelling at her to shut up. Just shut up. He couldn't take it anymore."

Tony broke from his daze and his eyes found Jethro's. "I've seen brutal retaliation over a lot less. If that happens again, on a patient who's aware of what's going on or if it gets reported or if anybody finds out about it, we're in deep shit. I don't even wanna think about what would happen. Everything's gone to shit around here."

"I thought women and children had to fly with an escort," Jethro said.

"They do and she was but things can get pretty chaotic in the back of a chopper," Tony said, "especially when you have more than one patient, like we did on that call."

"Did you report it?"

"I did," Tony answered. "After the whole pizza bribe thing I went over Biggs' head and reported it to Hammond."

"Who was it, Tony? Which medic?"

Tony broke eye contact and once again focused on an invisible spot on the wall. "Tristan. Tristan Bowles. I thought he'd be pulled, at least for a few shifts but he's flown with us every night since. Hammond mighta talked to him or something though. I don't know."

"Are you safe out there?" Jethro asked.

"Of course. Well, as safe as you can be when you've got the Taliban on your ass, trying to blow your head off with RPGs."

"I don't want anyone retaliating on you, especially if they know you're not gonna fall in line with the rest of 'em, like a good little soldier."

"Every day I get on a helicopter that dodges RPGs while it flies into the middle of battles zones to pick up, more often than not, women and children whose bodies have been blown apart by IEDs and when it's not innocent Afghanis in the back of the chopper, it's my fellow brothers and sisters hanging on for dear life, hoping they'll be able to make it home to hug their parents, their spouses, their kids just one more time. Fuck Biggs! And fuck Hammond! Nothing they can do to me is worse than that."

Jethro was slightly taken aback by heartfelt speech Tony had just given. His surprise eased into a grin as he looked at the man. "You're one of a kind, Tony," he said with the utmost respect. Tony saw things every day that no one in the world should ever have to see or deal with yet he maintained a positive attitude and kept morale around the base up. It took a special individual to do that but Jethro didn't need to know all that to know Tony was special.

Tony slid down in the bed and rested his head on Jethro's thigh then closed his eyes. He hadn't been that comfortable or felt that at peace since he'd arrived eight months earlier. He was usually the one being strong and holding everyone else together and that made it difficult for him to let his guard down. On top of that, the only person he felt safe opening up to was Kip and now he was gone. Tony was glad Jethro had ignored his initial advice about heading back to the states, especially if shit was going to hit the fan, like he was suspecting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Jekyll and Hyde**

Jethro laid quietly in the small bed, one hand propped behind his head and the other draped over Tony's bare torso, tracing the firm muscles while the man slept with his head on Jethro's chest. The sun was crawling high in the sky and he knew he'd have to wake Tony for his shift soon but he wasn't quite ready to give up the moment they were sharing yet.

When Tony shifted in the bed and the blankets travelled just a little too far down his body, Jethro moved them back up, covering Tony up to his belly button. The man was still naked from his shower the night before and Jethro knew if he didn't keep temptation at bay, it was very possible something impulsive would happen. His mind wandered to the previous evening and Tony confiding in him about his trouble sleeping on deployment. Jethro had been anticipating a night of warding off the man's continuous advances but Tony had slept through the night.

"I like it when you touch me," Tony said groggily. The smile that spread across his face brightened the room more than the morning sun pouring in the window.

"Mornin'," Jethro replied softly, not moving his fingers from the other man's body.

"Time's it?"

"10:30."

"You didn't take advantage of my while I was sleeping, did you?" Tony asked, opening his eyes and peering up at Jethro for the first time.

"No."

"Good, 'cause I wouldn't wanna miss that."

Jethro couldn't have stopped the smile if he'd wanted to.

"You know," Tony said, propping his head on one hand and looking down at Jethro, "that was the second night we've spent together. Do you go by the third date rule? 'cause that'd be tonight. I think tonight's going to be very special for us, Jethro."

"You do, do you?"

"I'd be willing to put money on it," Tony said confidently.

"Well, it's not going to be very special if you're in trouble because you're late for your shift."

"Good point," Tony said. He stretched, careful not to pull too much on the cut Jethro had glued for him the night before, then rolled out of bed, not even attempting to hide his nakedness.

Jethro watched as he pulled on his desert camo bottoms followed by the bloodstained sand colored shirt with camo sleeves. He looked damn fine in his uniform, minus the blood. "Got a clean shirt?"

"Yeah, back in my bunk," Tony answered. "I swear I go through more shirts than anyone over here."

Jethro studied Tony curiously from his spot reclined on the bed.

When Tony noticed he stopped fiddling with his boot and smiled back. "I don't suppose I could get a kiss for good luck before my shift?" he asked hopefully.

Jethro crooked a finger at him and when Tony leaned over, he pressed a wet kiss to his forehead.

"I'll take it!" Tony said happily as he shoved his foot into his boot. "Have a good day, Jethro."

"Be safe out there," Jethro reminded the man. "Watch your six."

* * *

The daily briefing with Mike Franks offered no new clues or leads for Jethro to chase down. Magnus had looked over all the information they had on the other soldiers who'd died at Camp Phoenix under Hammond and Biggs' rule and determined none of them were suspicious. The DNA from the teeth was still being tested but considering no one was missing and Kip's cup and one of his dog tags had been found at the burn site, it seemed safe to assume the teeth were his as well, especially after Magnus determined that the few teeth he had in his possession were the same ones missing from Kip's charred remains. The DNA match would just be a formality.

The briefing did put the wheels of change in motion though. Josh Brooks, a commanding officer with an exemplary service record and more power than both Hammond and Biggs, stepped foot on base late that morning allowing Jethro to breathe a small sigh of relief. He was no longer alone on a base with dirty COs and men who'd been corrupted and intimidated into blindly following commands. He had an ally which was exactly what he needed.

Beneath the neat and tidy exterior, the base was in chaos and desperately needed a leader worthy of the title. Drugs, bribes and shady practices had lost the respect of the men under Biggs and Hammond. The corpsmen had started acting out and instead of dealing with the behavior head on, the base's commanding officers had turned to shady backdoor proceedings. At the rate things were escalating, they were lucky that Kip had been the only casualty.

"Commander Brooks," Jethro greeted, one arm extended for a handshake as he helped the man with his bags with the other. "Agent Jethro Gibbs, NCIS."

"Nice to meet you, Agent Gibbs," Brooks replied as they shook hands. "Thanks for the hand."

"How was your flight?" Brooks had flown in from a nearby base to take over at Camp Phoenix.

"Fast," Brooks answered with a smile. "I barely had time to pack but I'm anxious to be brought up to speed. What can you tell me, Agent Gibbs?"

"You're walking into a firestorm, Commander," Jethro informed the man.

"I didn't exactly get the friendliest welcome when Hammond picked me up at the airstrip," Brooks replied, "and he didn't say a word to me on the drive over here. I could see the curiosity in his eyes though."

"It's looking like he and Biggs are knee deep in whatever's going on around here," Jethro reported.

"I was afraid of that," Brooks said. "In your opinion, what needs my immediate attention?"

After arriving in what would be Brooks' new room, Jethro untucked the folder from under his arm and settled in. He knew exactly where to start.

* * *

"What happened to Bowles?" Nate, one of the corpsmen sharing a chopper with Tony asked as they made their way back to base after a call.

"Maybe he took a personal day," Chase suggested.

"I don't think so," Nate said. "He was helping load the chopper and prepare for our shift. Tristan was planning on working until that new guys, Brooks or whoever, pulled him."

"If Command pulled him it must be something serious," Ozzy said. Their team needed every member. There was no such thing as a personal day when you were a corpsman. There were a lot of people relying on you.

"Maybe there's bad news on the home front," Max suggested. "His mom's been sick."

"I talked to him between calls," Brady said. "He wouldn't talk about it but something definitely happened and I don't think it has anything to do with his mother."

Tony listened as the other medics tried to figure out where Tristan Bowles might be. He knew exactly what had happened but he knew if he said anything, he'd be seen as a traitor to their unit, despite what Bowles had done. Jethro hadn't told him that Bowles would be pulled but Tony knew they couldn't risk having another victim on their hands. It wasn't fair to the people they were supposed to be helping and it was a matter of life and death for all troops in the country.

Despite the worry gnawing at the back of his mind, Tony was pleased about Josh Brooks' transfer to Camp Phoenix and the shake-up he knew the man would bring. Hammond and Biggs had been in control long enough and they'd done a lot of damage.

Tony looked at his watch as the chopper landed and taxied the short distance to its spot. It was 12:15, past quitting time. He and his team worked with the other team of corpsmen to get their gear switched out and make sure everything was fully stocked. Thankfully the conversation changed from what might've happened to Bowles to one of the grizzliest scenes of their entire deployment. Once all the shift change activities had been completed, Tony and his teammates when their separate directions.

Anxious to finally have a little alone time, Tony headed straight for the showers to wash the day off and calm his thoughts. After a quick shower, he stepped out into the cool night air just in time to see Jethro go jogging by. Tony fell into place next to the investigator and the two shared a smile.

"Hey, Gunny."

Jethro nodded his head in a silent greeting. "How was work?"

"Bloody and gruesome," Tony answered. He turned them towards a more vacant area of the base as they continued their jog, Jethro wearing a pair of athletic shorts and Tony in his desert camos and still wearing his combat boots. "The guys know something's up with Bowles," he confided. "Just a lot of guessing right now but it won't be long before they figure out I'm the rat. I predict that'll go over like a fart in church."

"A fart in church?" Jethro asked in amusement.

Tony shrugged and his face relaxed into a smile despite his worry.

"I couldn't let him get back on that chopper, Tony," Jethro said apologetically.

"I know," Tony said, "and I don't regret telling you. He doesn't belong on that chopper and if the guys can't see that, then I can deal with them hating me."

"I worry about you out there," Jethro confessed.

"Aww, I always knew you cared!" Tony said with his most charming smile.

Jethro cared alright. He cared so much it scared him. In the back of his mind he'd already been trying to figure out how he could keep Tony's name out of the investigation and plotting a way to protect him from any retaliation he might face but short of Tony being pulled, which he knew the man wouldn't go for, there wasn't much he or even Brooks could do. He tried not to dwell on it but things could get dangerous quickly when the people you relied on to watch your back suddenly had a vendetta against you.

Once they were far away from wandering eyes and shrouded by darkness, Tony grabbed onto Jethro's arm and stopped him. Their eyes met under the gleam of moonlight and even though he knew it was a bad idea, Jethro reached out and brushed his fingertips across Tony's cheek. Tony leaned into the intimate touch, his eyes never leaving Jethro's.

"I know you wanna kiss me," Tony whispered softly, his breath warm against Jethro's sweat chilled skin.

"We can't, Tony," Jethro said, but instead of making an effort to move away, he leaned closer and rubbed noses with Tony before pressing a tentative kiss to the man's lips.

Tony accepted the kiss and immediately returned it with fervor. His hands found Jethro's face while Jethro rested his hands on Tony's hips. Before long tongues were battling for dominance, tasting and exploring each other's mouths as electricity sparked and their need heightened.

"You taste so good," Tony hummed when the kiss broke. He rested his forehead against Jethro's and the two easily lost themselves in each other.

It wasn't long before Jethro angled his head, pressed his lips to Tony's and the kissing started again. The two nipped and kissed hungrily while their hands explored each other's bare chests. When Jethro's hand grazed the steri-strips on Tony's abdomen, he remembered the danger and pulled back. They were in a warzone and he'd been sent there to work a case, not hook up with someone he'd probably never see again once he returned stateside.

Tony didn't let Jethro's apprehension slow him down. He went after another kiss and another and Jethro accepted them because Tony's kisses were so sweet and addictive that he couldn't refuse them but that didn't stop him from trying to talk some sense into the man.

"Tony," he said breathlessly. "Tony, we can't do this."

"Sure we can," Tony replied, nibbling on Jethro's neck.

"I'm here to work a case." Jethro knew it was lame and very obviously an excuse but he was struggling to find a satisfactory reason to keep them apart in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.

"A case that has nothing to do with me," Tony pointed out. He licked the underside of Jethro's jaw, pulling a moan out of the man. "Am I a suspect?"

"No," Jethro breathed.

"Then there's no conflict."

"We're in a warzone," Jethro countered as Tony nipped at his collarbone. There was absolutely no sexual anything allowed in warzones and every soldier had to sign a paper agreeing to abide by that rule at the beginning of each deployment.

"Yeah and _everybody_ follows the rules in warzones," Tony replied sarcastically. He latched onto Jethro's nipple, hungrily exploring the hard nub while his hands trailed further down the man's sweaty body. He left Jethro plenty of opportunity to stop him before he reached his tented athletic shorts

Tony's soft kisses and warm touches rendered Jethro powerless. He knew he should put an end to what was happening but how could he?

"Tony," he growled when the man's hand wrapped around his dick. It felt so good he barely noticed the athletic shorts separating them. "Tony, we can't do—" He was cut off by Tony mouthing his straining cock through his shorts. Jethro's knees threatened to give out but he somehow managed to keep himself upright.

"You like that, don't you?" Tony asked, pulling the front of the man's shorts down and letting the tip of Jethro's dick play at the entrance of his mouth.

Jethro fisted his hand into Tony's hair, completely ignoring how wrong what they were doing was. It had been far too long since anyone had paid him _that_ kind of attention and Tony's mouth was far too talented to stop him. He hadn't realized how bad he had it for the man until Tony had him like putty in his hands in such a short amount of time.

The noises coming out of Tony's mouth made it sound as if the man was enjoying a five star meal. The groans and hums grew even more exaggerated when his ministrations caused Jethro to leak, giving him a taste and the way Tony was touching him—fingers grazing across sensitive skin, adding pressure in all the right places, weighing, stroking, fondling, paying just as much attention to his balls as he was to his dick—had Jethro leaking continuously.

When Tony felt Jethro's balls twitching and his cock pulsing, he opened his mouth and relaxed his throat, giving up some of the control to Jethro. He sucked hard while Jethro moved his hips, thrusting against the tight suction and in a matter of moments his cries broke through the quiet of the night. Tony hummed in delight as he cleaned the man up before standing.

"I didn't take you as the kind of guy who went commando," Tony said with a smug smile.

"I don't always," Jethro replied, "but I only have a limited supply of underwear. Gonna be here longer than I thought."

"I like the sound of that," Tony said. He kissed Jethro, letting the man get a taste of himself. As they kissed, Tony undid his belt, pulled his pants away from his body and guided Jethro's hand in. He wasn't wearing any underwear either.

Jethro fisted Tony's leaking cock, letting his fingers glide over the soft skin covering the hard shaft, paying attention to every detail. He undid Tony's belt, unfastened his pants and let them drop unceremoniously to the ground. Tony buried his face in Jethro's shoulder, biting down when the man found his rhythm and started working him over with purpose.

Jethro spread Tony's legs by sliding his knee between them and let the man thrust against his leg. Tony rocked his hips in rhythm with Jethro's stroking, allowing his sensitive cockhead to bump against the man's leg with each thrust. He held onto Jethro for dear life, moaning and grunting as Jethro skillfully brought him to completion.

Tony continued thrusting through his orgasm, slowing slightly as he came down from his high and started to soften. Jethro's rough hands on his tender skin made him wish he could cum again and again, despite the incredible sensitivity but he settled for kissing the man's bare shoulder instead as Jethro released his dick and wrapped him in a hug.

"Told you our third date would be special." Tony's words were muffled by Jethro's shoulder.

Jethro reached around and lightly cuffed Tony upside the head. He could feel the man smile against his shoulder.

"Still gonna try to deny we're lovers?" Tony asked. "'cause you came pretty damn fast and the way you were stroking me? Fuck. I can't wait to do that again."

"Who says there'll be an again?" Jethro asked, holding onto Tony's ass to still his rocking hips.

"There will be an again, Jethro," Tony said confidently. "I know by the way your body responded to me. You won't be able to stay away. Even now, your fingers are kneading my ass and I bet you don't even realize you're doing it."

Jethro froze. Tony was right. He had been kneading his ass and he hadn't even realized it.

"Keep doing it," Tony encouraged. "It feels nice."

Instead of continuing, Jethro unwrapped his arms from Tony and let him go. The guy was intoxicating. Jethro hadn't behaved like that since… well, since Shannon. He had more control when he was drunk. What was it about Tony? Tony was a lot like Shannon. His optimistic outlook on life; he was fun loving and fearless and the man didn't let Jethro scare him. Shannon had never let him scare her either, not that he'd tried but he had come home pretty grumpy sometimes and she was always loving and caring despite his mood. He swallowed hard at the memory and even harder at the realization of what was happening. "I have to go," he said.

"Jethro?" Tony asked, surprised by the rapid change in his demeanor. He jerked his pants back into place and held them up as he hurried to catch up with the man.

"I have an investigation to conduct," Jethro said as he walked quickly towards the base. "I have to brief my boss in the morning."

Tony ran to catch up with him, wondering if they'd gone too far too fast or if he'd said or done something wrong. He doubted Jethro was hurrying off because of the case or some briefing with his boss. "Jethro, wait," he begged. "Is everything—are you okay? Did I do… something? I don't understand."

"It's not you, Tony," Jethro said. "It's not. I just, my boss is a real hard ass and now I need a shower and you've gotta get some sleep. Somebody might be looking for us."

"In the middle of the night?" Tony interrupted with a laugh.

Jethro looked over at him with wild eyes as they made it back to camp. He leaned in and gave him a passionate kiss before jogging back towards his room, leaving Tony standing there completely dumbfounded.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Sleeping With the Enemy**

Jethro stood under the icy spray of the shower, not even caring about the discomfort. Hot water was a luxury on a forward operating base but after spending all day in triple digit heat, hauling around anywhere from fifty to eighty pounds of gear, the cool water was refreshing for the troops. The water felt good on Jethro's skin too after what he'd done with Tony. Perhaps it was just a way of torturing his body or maybe he was trying to wash away the remnants of the act itself. How had he let that happen? How could he have been so stupid? The scariest part was knowing how easily it could happen again. Tony was the whole package; good looks, charm, amazing personality, smart, funny, confident… he was irresistible.

He groaned as his dick tried to agree despite the cold water. He was out of control. He turned the water off and stepped out before he was tempted to get off to mental images of Tony. The case would distract him. He didn't actually need all night to prepare for his early morning briefing like he'd told Tony but he did need a distraction. His plans were altered when he opened the bathroom door and found Tony standing unapologetically in his bedroom.

"Hi," Tony said. His eyes carried an uneasy expression and his muscles were tense. For the first time since Jethro had met him, he actually looked uneasy.

"What're you doing here?" Jethro asked. He didn't mean to sound unwelcoming but damn it, he didn't want Tony there! Something was going to happen—something they would _both_ regret.

"I'm scared too," Tony told the man. "The guys nicknamed me Sex Machine because I'm always flirting, even with people I'm not really interested in but I'm not just putting the moves on you, Jethro. You aren't another mark on my tally sheet and this isn't just because I haven't been with anyone in months. It's not a game or a challenge or anything like that. I don't know what the hell is going between us but I do know that I've never felt like this before and I'd really like to explore it more."

"And then what?" Jethro asked. "What happens after that?" What did Tony see in a washed out, grumpy Marine?

Tony shrugged as he peered deep into the man's eyes. "Behind those gorgeous blue eyes and sexy as hell hands there's a loving, sensitive guy that I'm falling in love with. That's your sexiest feature. That's what I'm most attracted to. That's how I know this is worth pursuing. What happens next? I dunno. This has never happened to me before. I've never felt like this and I don't have a clue what to do with it. I'm in uncharted waters here."

"'m not sensitive," Jethro grumbled.

"Not in the girly 'cry at the end of sappy movies' kind of way," Tony said, letting the fear leave his body, "but you are in the way you treat people, at least in the way you treat me. Very few people take the time to appreciate the real me." He was so much more than the funny man who kept the situation bearable with his pranks and humor and Jethro had actually put in the effort to look beyond the flirty, funny boy persona and value the person underneath—the _real_ Tony.

"You let me play junior detective," Tony continued genuinely. "You care about my safety and the possible career repercussions. I see the way you look at me. I _feel_ the way you touch me, Jethro. You can't fake genuine."

"Tony," Jethro said, but he didn't know how to continue. His head and his heart were telling him two different things as they battled against fear and love. His one true love was gone, dead. He wasn't supposed to get a second chance, yet here it was, staring him in the face. As if that wasn't enough pressure, he knew if he denied his feelings and pushed Tony away he wouldn't only be hurting himself but he'd hurt Tony as well and he didn't want to do that.

When Jethro seemed to get lost in his head, Tony took a chance, reached out and ran his hand down the man's bare chest. He had nothing on but the towel wrapped around his waist after his shower and Tony found the sight undeniably sexy.

Jethro took Tony's hand in both of his but didn't move it from his chest. Maybe this didn't have to be as scary as he thought. He could hear the honesty in Tony's voice and see it in his eyes. Loving Shannon had been scary too but it was an exciting kind of scary. He decided he wasn't just trying to justify his lust for Tony. His feelings were real and there was no denying that. The excitement he felt was proof of that.

Jethro looked up at Tony and realized the man was waiting for him to finish his thought. He smiled and made his decision. There would be no turning back, no running or hiding or letting fear win. The details would work themselves out. "How the hell did you manage to weasel your way into my heart in such a short amount of time?"

Tony shrugged and returned Jethro's smile. "I told you the first time I met you, I go after what I want. To hell with society's rules. Apparently my charm is irresistible."

Jethro shook his head at the playfully cocky arrogance. "Keep telling yourself that, Sex Machine," he teased.

"You're finding me irresistible right now," Tony said, letting himself fully relax again. He lowered his voice and leaned a little closer. "I can see it in your eyes. You wanna kiss me."

"Yeah?" Jethro asked, leaning in until his mouth was hovering directly in front of Tony's, "and what about after that?"

Tony captured Jethro's mouth in a brief but passionate kiss before answering. "After that I'm gonna remove your towel, suck your dick and then beg you to fuck me until I can't even remember my name anymore."

"You're not gonna have to beg very hard," Jethro mumbled.

"I like the sound of—"

Tony's thought was cut off by a passionate, open mouthed kiss as Jethro backed him up until his legs hit the bed. He laid Tony down as his lips traveled across Tony's jaw to nip at his ear before tracing a path down Tony's neck with his tongue. He mouthed Tony's collarbone on his way down to flick each nipple with his tongue before capturing one of the hardening nubs between his teeth.

The thorough exploration had Tony's mouth falling open in silent moans as he writhed beneath his lover's tender touches.

"Don't think I've ever seen you at a loss for words," Jethro teased.

"That's because no one's ever made me feel like—fuuuck…"

Jethro nuzzled Tony's rib cage with his nose as he suckled against the soft skin of his abdomen. He reached down and removed the towel at his waist with one hand then turned himself around and straddled Tony's head.

Tony stuck his tongue out and licked at the dick swinging in his face before latching on. The tongue tracing its way across Tony's groin turned into a nip as soon as he engulfed Jethro's dick in the tight suction of his mouth. The move had Tony thrusting his hips in search of more pleasure.

Jethro regained control and went to work, tonguing and mouthing Tony's cock and balls before wrapping his lips around the man's erection and taking it almost all the way down his throat. He hummed in delight when Tony's pulsing dick started leaking precum and hungrily swallowed it.

The two fed off of each other's excitement as they prepared the other's body and didn't pull apart until their bodies threatened to betray what small amount of control they were clinging to.

"I'm ready, Jethro," Tony panted breathlessly. "I can't take it anymore. Please, fuck me."

Jethro got himself turned around and once he was on top of Tony, face to face again, he couldn't resist kissing the man. One kiss turned into another as they ground their erections together. Once the hungry kisses ended, Jethro looked down at Tony and traced his fingers across the man's strong jawline.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked.

"I don't have a condom," Jethro answered, studying Tony's face carefully.

The corners of Tony's mouth twitched up into a smile as he looked from Jethro's eyes to his kiss swollen lips and back to his eyes. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jethro answered with a nod of his head.

"I trust you too, Jethro," Tony said. "I'm clean and as long as you are too, there's nothing stopping us."

With his eyes still locked on Tony's, Jethro leaned in for a purposeful peck on the lips. "Are you sure? Because I can suck you off."

"Fuck me, Jethro," Tony goaded. "I won't be happy till you're inside me."

"I gotta keep you happy," Jethro replied softly with a genuine smile.

Jethro sat up between Tony's legs again and toyed with the man's nipples, watching as his eyes rolled back in his head. He wrapped his other hand around his dick and worked more precum out, smoothing it over his shaft. After adding just the right amount of saliva, Jethro lined himself up and eased into Tony's body.

Tony fisted his hands into the bedding, his dick pulsing and standing up off his body in excitement. The farther Jethro pushed inside, the harder Tony felt like he got. "You feel so good inside me," he moaned. "I know you would."

Jethro leaned over just enough to kiss Tony's nipples, letting the man's dick rub against his belly as he finished easing inside and took his time finding his rhythm. He knew the exact moment he got his angle right by the way Tony arched up off the bed and threw his head back, groaning in pure bliss.

"You like that?" Jethro asked, turning his attention to the other nipple. "This is just the beginning."

"Oh, fuck, Jethro," Tony groaned. "Harder. Deeper. I haven't felt this fucking good since… ever."

Jethro thrust his hips skillfully, rubbing Tony in all the right places and pulling an endless number of moans and groans from him. As Tony's excitement continued to grow, he couldn't stop his hips from moving in tandem with Jethro.

Once Tony's nipples had each been thoroughly attended to, Jethro once again sat up above the man and looked down over his body. He traced his fingers down the middle of Tony's chest and belly then wrapped his hand around his lover's cock and began stroking, slowly at first but wasting no time picking up speed. It wasn't long before the sight of Tony all laid out on the bed before him, thrusting up into his hand before slamming back down onto his dick all while moaning and writhing with his eyes closed tightly and his hands fisted into the sheets became too much for Jethro.

"I can keep this up much longer, Tony," he warned. "I'm gonna cum."

"Don't stop," Tony panted. "I am too. Don't fucking stop." Every muscle in his body tensed and he focused solely on Jethro's dick rubbing against his sweet spot and the man's hands skillfully working his body over. He could hear Jethro's sharp breaths and the grunts and groans that warned it would soon all be over.

"Let go, Tony," Jethro urged, barely able to get the words out through his own clenched teeth and harsh breathing.

Tony's facial expression tensed briefly before his entire body went limp and he exploded all over Jethro, himself and the bed with a loud, "fuck!"

Once he was sure Tony was satisfied, Jethro followed him right over the edge, groaning in pure bliss as he filled his lover's body with stroke after stroke before pushing in deep, stopping and collapsing on top of Tony.

Tony nuzzled his nose against Jethro's cheek, pressing light, gentle kisses to it as his breathing calmed and returned to normal. After Jethro caught his breath, he turned his head and the two shared an intimate kiss before looking into each other's eyes and smiling.

"I told you our third date was gonna be something special," Tony snarked with a gentle playfulness that didn't take away from the mood.

The corners of Jethro's mouth twitched up into a smile before he wet his lips with his tongue and went in for another kiss. "Stay the night with me," he requested against Tony's lips.

Tony pressed his lips to Jethro's in a brief kiss before rubbing noses with the man. "Only if you promise we can do this all night."

Jethro closed his eyes and smiled once again as he whispered, "I promise."

* * *

After a long, eventful night and a lazy morning in bed, Tony reluctantly got himself dressed and raced off towards his barracks. The stress of the investigation and worry about Bowles being pulled from the duty roster was completely forgotten after a night of being taken care of by Jethro in a way no one had ever taken care of him before.

A couple buildings away, Jethro made his way through the command center with an air of confidence that belied how little he really knew. He whistled a familiar tune as he stepped into the private room he'd been using to communicate with his boss but stopped abruptly at the sight in front of him. Instead of a computer screen with the man's image on it, his boss was sitting at the small table, smoking a cigarette and flipping through paperwork.

"Pick your jaw up off the floor, Probie," Mike ordered. "We've got an investigation to run."

"I'm, uh, well, it's just that, I'm surprised to see you here, Boss," Jethro stuttered. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Don't go gettin' your feelings hurt," Mike grumbled. "You did a fine job. This is just turning into something bigger than a one man investigation."

Jethro couldn't stop staring at the man in utter disbelief. He knew he might have a problem when he realized he didn't even care about no longer having lead on the case but instead was worried about Tony no longer being able to spend the night and when and how they'd be able to spend time together at all. He flopped down at the table, wishing more than anything that he had a cup of coffee to drink. Why hadn't he stopped by the mess hall on his way in?

"Don't get too comfortable," Mike said. "I wanna go to the burn site."

"Burn site?" Jethro asked. He'd promised Tony he wouldn't tell anyone about it and he hadn't.

"Yes, Probie, wherever you got those charred dog tags and teeth. We're going there."

"Oh, right." Jethro rubbed a hand over his face hoping to hide his embarrassment. Maybe it was a good thing Mike was there after all because he obviously wasn't thinking clearly. If he had been, he would've realized there was no way he could keep Tony's secret. "I'll, uh, go check the Jeep out of the motor pool."

"Pick me up at the latrine," Mike said. "I gotta hit the head."

Jethro took the long way to the motor pool, hoping he'd run into Tony again so he could warn him not only about Mike being there but also about the impending danger that would stem from the burn site being discovered but he couldn't find the man anywhere and didn't have time to keep searching for him.

"Be safe out there, Tony," he muttered under his breath before trying to refocus his attention on getting his head on straight. Mike's sudden presence had thrown him for a loop but if he didn't pull himself together, he and Tony were in danger of being outted and the risk to Tony's life, as evidenced by the large cut on his midsection, would be even greater. The only thing less popular than being a rat was sleeping with the enemy.

Twenty minutes later, Jethro was navigating through the back roads of the base, trying to remember the turns Tony had showed him in the dark a few nights prior. He was still so deep in thought that he almost forgot his boss was riding shotgun.

"Why were you hesitant to bring me out here, Probie?" Mike asked distractedly as he flipped through more paperwork related to their case.

"It's just a sensitive situation, Boss," Jethro explained. "We need to protect our source and I got the impression he was really sticking his neck out the first time he brought me here."

"That's admirable, Probie, and something we definitely need to be aware of but the best way we can protect our source is to solve this case and in order to do that, we need to check out the burn site."

Jethro nodded, knowing full well that his boss was right. They couldn't stay at Camp Phoenix forever and as soon as they left Tony would be on his own. The only way to keep him safe was to make sure the bad guys were on the plane with them when they headed back to the states.

"It's right up here," Jethro said, parking the Jeep.

Mike tucked his folder of paperwork between the seats before opening the door and stepping out into the mid-morning heat. He mumbled his disapproval about the hot, dry climate as he followed Jethro over to the remains of the fire pit. It had very obviously been a large fire, dangerously large for the dark of night with the enemy all around but if Hammond and Biggs were burning bodies there it would've been even more dangerous for them in the daytime if one of their own happened to stumble on them.

Both investigators grabbed a stick and started poking around in the ash. It wasn't long before Mike uncovered what was left of an American flag patch exactly like the ones all soldiers proudly wore on their uniforms and a sock that was black with soot but had somehow escaped the fire.

"I thought you searched this, Probie," Mike said as he bagged both items.

"It was dark," Jethro replied sheepishly, feeling like he'd let his boss and himself down. Had he really been doing a good job with the investigation or was he more interested in pursuing Tony? Was Tony more of a distraction than a help? Without the man he wouldn't know half of what he did. Even scarier, Jethro couldn't imagine not having the man around. He swallowed hard at the realization.

"Something you wanna tell me, Probie?"

Jethro looked up and realized his boss had stopped searching the scene and was standing in front of him, studying him. "I didn't sleep well last night," he offered weakly, _because I was up all night fucking Tony_ , he added mentally and immediately regretted it when he felt his cheeks redden.

Mike narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Do we need to schedule a nap time for you, Gunny?"

"No, Boss," Jethro replied in shame. "I'll pull it together."

Mike gave him one last hard look before nodding and going back to what he'd been doing.

Jethro slipped his hands into a pair of gloves and got started searching the scene alongside his boss, trying to forget about Tony.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Undeterred**

With his backpack slung over one shoulder, Tony made his way from the command center towards the barracks in the early morning hours following his shift. He whistled a happy tune he'd made up earlier that day as he strolled along in the moonlight and coolness of the night, completely relaxed. After a quick shower he would head to Jethro's and he was pretty sure he could convince the man to fuck him again. No one had ever fucked him like Jethro had and judging by how many times they'd gone at it the previous night, he was fairly certain the other man had enjoyed himself as well.

His plans for the evening were interrupted when he walked past a dark alley and felt himself being pulled backwards between the two buildings.

"What the—" His shriek was interrupted by lips on his, taking his mouth in a hungry, possessive kiss. It wasn't until the kiss ended and the other person pulled back that his brain had time to process that it was Jethro.

"I whistled for you," Jethro explained, "but you couldn't hear me over your whistling."

"I've been thinking about you all day," Tony replied urgently as he dragged Jethro into another kiss.

The kissing continued for several long moments with both of them fighting for control and letting the other one have it briefly before attempting to get it back. It wasn't until he was desperate for air that Tony finally pulled back and ran his hand down the front of Jethro's chest.

"Couldn't wait for me to come to your room?" he asked in amusement.

"My boss flew in this morning," Jethro explained regretfully.

"Your boss?" Tony asked. "You're not the one in charge?"

"Not hardly," Jethro replied with a cynical chuckle. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Tony curiously. "That make me less appealing?" he asked.

"You could be the local garbage man for all I care," Tony scoffed. As if to accentuate the point he grabbed the front of Jethro's shirt and tugged him closer for another, brief kiss. "So what's the plan?" he asked, his fun-loving personality showing through once again. "Sneak into the officer's quarters? Find a vacant room in the barracks? Backseat of a Jeep in the motor pool? An empty field under the stars? That's a personal favorite of mine. Grab a blanket or a sleeping bag, spend the night with Mother Nature, cool air against naked skin with only the stars watching over us and listening in."

Jethro leaned in and pressed his lips to Tony's, smiling into the kiss before pulling back only slightly. "I like the last one too," he said. "Let's put on a show for the man in the moon."

The two shared a smile that was quickly interrupted by a voice nearby.

"Hello? DiNozzo?"

"That's my name," Tony said innocently as he stepped out of the shadows into the beam of a nearby street light. "Oh, hi. It's Brooks, right? The new CO?"

"That's my name," Brooks mimicked with a grin. "NCIS would like to have a word with you after your shift tonight. I told 'em it'd be late. They're expecting you."

"I already talked to Je—Agent Gibbs," Tony said.

"And now you get to talk to Agent Franks," Brooks said, clasping his hand onto Tony's shoulder. "He's not as cute as Agent Gibbs but he seemed pretty excited to talk to you."

"My reputation precedes me!" Tony exclaimed excitedly. "Where am I meeting this Franks guy?"

"He's bunking with Gibbs," Brooks answered as he started walking again. "Nice work out there today, DiNozzo," he called over his shoulder. "Your hard work is appreciated."

Tony cocked his head in confusion as he watched Josh Brooks walk off. He'd never really received a compliment for simply doing his job before and he quickly decided that it was kind of nice. Anything would've been better than Hammond and Biggs breathing down his neck but he hadn't been expecting someoneso kind and complimentary. "Thanks!" he called after the man.

Brooks raised his hand and gave a single wave in acknowledgment before turning a corner and disappearing into the night at the same time as Jethro came into view from the darkness of the alley he and Tony had just been in.

"Well, fuck," Tony mumbled.

"Sounds like that's gonna have to wait."

"My dick doesn't wanna wait," Tony replied. "How come your boss wants to talk to me? You already talked to me. How come he can't just send you to question me again?"

"Maybe because he knows you'd just seduce me with your dick," Jethro snarked.

"Give me a hand job," Tony begged shamelessly. "It'll help me concentrate and tide me over till your boss is done. I'll do the same for you."

Jethro knew his answer should've been 'absolutely not' if for no other reason than there was nowhere private for them to go in such a hurry but he was done fighting his feelings and instead of denying Tony, he tugged him back into the darkness of the alley. "I have a better idea."

He lowered Tony's zipper and Tony pulled his dick free as Jethro dropped to his knees. Tony had no time to process what was getting ready to happen before his cock was engulfed in the hot suction of Jethro's mouth and he was throwing his head back and mouthing a silent curse.

"Fuck yeah," he groaned when he found his voice again. "I wanna cum already." He reached for his dick and started pumping the part that wasn't engulfed by Jethro, reveling in the soft, velvety feel of the other man's talented mouth. "Damn you're good at that."

Jethro hummed in acknowledgment around Tony's pulsing cock which ended in Tony fisting his hand into Jethro's short hair. Jethro moved Tony's hand out of the way then opened up his throat and let Tony ease all the way in.

"Oh yeah," Tony hummed in pure bliss, "that's nice. Real nice." He pulled all the way out and groaned in satisfaction when Jethro played at the tip of his dick with his tongue then slid back into his mouth and down his throat. "Shit. Look at you," he breathed. "You take that like a pro."

Jethro raised his eyebrows and looked up at Tony with his piercing blue eyes as he closed his mouth and swallowed around Tony's cock.

"Fuck," Tony groaned at the site. "I'm gonna cum." He tried to pull back so Jethro could release him if he chose to but the man grabbed his ass and held on tighter and wouldn't let him go. "Fuck, Jethro. Your mouth. I can't. I can't hold on. I gotta... I'm gonna... Fuck." He widened his stance slightly and gave up control, exploding into the welcoming heat of Jethro's mouth. "Holy shit, Jethro," he moaned as he slowed the rocking of his hips before stopping. "That was so much better than a hand job. Fuck! That was the best blowjob I've ever had."

Jethro cleaned Tony up with his tongue while Tony raved, partially making sense but mostly just spitting out gibberish. When he was done, he patted Tony's crotch as he stood and said, "put that away."

"Alright, it's your turn," Tony said, tucking himself away.

"Tony, you don't—"

"Ah-ah," Tony interrupted. "I insist. Just relax and let me take care of you," he said, dropping to his knees and reverently removing the man's straining cock from his running shorts. "Besides, you can't go back to your room with _this_ in your shorts. I think your boss would notice."

Jethro's entire body shuddered when Tony wrapped his lips around his erection and immediately took it all the way down his throat. "You don't waste any time, do you?" he muttered rhetorically.

Tony answered by swallowing around him and sucking hard as he pulled off then admiring the dick, glistening with his saliva, swinging in front of his face. He used the tip of his tongue to toy with the tip of Jethro's cock until the man was breathing heavily and starting to rock his hips.

"Put it in your mouth, Tony," Jethro urged.

Tony obeyed with an enthusiastic smile, mouthing Jethro's shaft first before gently scraping his teeth along the underside of his dick, causing it to pulse and strain in his mouth.

"Feels so good," Jethro hummed, rocking his hips more and more. "Look at me. I wanna see those bright, green eyes."

Tony peered up at Jethro, his expression somehow screaming innocence and pure wanton lust at the same time. He pulled off and explored his lover's length with his tongue again before nuzzling his nose into the man's ball sack.

"Shit, Tony," Jethro groaned. He couldn't have stopped his hips from rocking if he wanted to as Tony continued working him over. "Stick your tongue out," he ordered when he couldn't take it anymore. He reached for himself and started stroking, rubbing his cockhead against Tony's tongue as he stroked himself. "Oh yeah. Just like that. Your mouth has all kinds of uses, doesn't it?"

One corner of Tony's mouth twitched up into a smirk at that but he didn't miss a beat. He alternated between mouthing and sucking until he knew Jethro was close then stuck his tongue out and let the man stroke himself to completion as he rubbed the tip of his dick against his tongue. Tony lapped up every bit he could then started licking Jethro clean while the man groaned and shuddered and gave control back to Tony.

"There's no better feeling than your tongue on my dick," Jethro purred, lovingly stroking Tony's hair.

"Good," Tony hummed before swiping his tongue across the man's swollen and sensitive cockhead, "because I love giving head."

Jethro hummed in acknowledgment and waited patiently while Tony finished up. "You're very thorough," he admired as Tony stood.

"Always," Tony answered with a sly smirk. "Now let's get this conversation with your boss over with so we can get to the part where we're both naked under the stars, putting on a show for the man in the moon."

* * *

"Enter," Mike ordered when he heard the knock at his door.

"Anthony DiNozzo Junior, as requested," Tony called out as he stood at attention in the doorway.

Mike looked up, one eyebrow raised in amusement. "Thank you for clearing that up for me, Son," he said. "At ease."

"Your other agent thought I was my father at first," Tony explained.

"I did not," Jethro said defensively as he entered the room behind Tony.

"I just assumed since you were asking about a crime," Tony replied innocently. "If you knew Senior, you'd know he's been a conman and borderline criminal all his life."

"You know what they say about assumptions," Jethro said.

"Something about asses," Tony said with a cheeky grin.

"Nobody thinks you're guilty of any crime, DiNozzo," Mike said, putting an end to the banter between Tony and his second. "Have a seat."

"Am I gonna be here that long?" Tony asked.

"You'll be here as long as you need to be," Mike answered flatly.

Tony shot a quick look over at Jethro as he sat down on one of the chairs in the room. He hadn't realized how no-nonsense the man's boss was and it made him even more thankful he'd encountered Jethro first.

"Where were you the night of June 11?" Mike asked.

Tony shook his head back and forth as he answered. "I don't remember but I never saw a Kip that night."

"You don't remember?" Mike asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Everything kinda runs together over here," Tony explained with a shrug. "I don't sleep well but I never wanted to keep Kip up so I'd go for a run or play poker with the night shift guys or lay out under the stars. I don't remember exactly which one I was doing that night but I wasn't in our room."

"Alright," Mike said, accepting that explanation.

"So are we done?" Tony asked, perking up.

Mike pinned Tony with a hard look.

"Or not," Tony said, answering his own question.

Mike set the papers he was holding aside, folded his hands in front of him and looked over at Tony studiously. "What do you know, DiNozzo?"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked. "I already told you I wasn't there the night Kip died and I most certainly had nothing to do with his death. Even you admitted that."

"I didn't ask you if you killed him," Mike clarified. "I asked you what you know. You gave Gibbs the journal, took him to the burn site, confessed to witnessing your CO 'high as a kite' and admitted he tried to bribe you. You've been stationed on this base for eight months. You know something, DiNozzo, and I want you to tell me what it is."

"I've already told Agent Gibbs everything I know," Tony replied, starting to get frustrated with Mike Franks' hardnosed approach. "I've answered all your questions, stuck my neck _way_ out for you on a base where people are being killed by dirty COs for not falling in line. Why the fuck would I keep secrets from you that could actually solve this case?"

Mike narrowed his eyes even more at Tony, studying everything about the man sitting in front of him. Based on what he'd witnessed from his second at the burn site earlier that day and the banter between Jethro and Tony moments earlier, he knew something was different. He hadn't seen enough to be able to come to any solid conclusions yet but Jethro's hardnosed, take no prisoners approach seemed to have faded into a softer, more playful approach where he let the answers come to him rather than demanding them. If Mike had to be the ass hole that came along and played bad cop to get every last shred of information out of Tony then he would do that.

When Tony met his gaze full on and didn't back down or look away, Mike was satisfied that the man had, in fact, told him everything he knew. He was also satisfied that Tony now knew he wasn't going to let him charm him. With that the lead agent softened his expression and approach. "You okay out there with the others? Are you safe?"

Tony cocked his head in confusion and glanced up at Jethro who was leaning against the wall near him. "Course I am," he answered somewhat defensively. "They're my brothers and I was trained to be safe and stay alive. I'm fine."

"I trust you'll let us know if something changes," Mike said.

 _'Maybe Jethro, you ass hole,'_ Tony thought but instead answered with a borderline snarky, "sure. Can I go now?"

"Sure," Mike answered, mimicking Tony's borderline snarkiness. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon."

Tony stood and turned, rolling his eyes when only Jethro could see him.

Jethro winked at the man, a subtle smirk on his face. Once Tony was gone, he turned his attention to his boss, trying to hide how anxious he was to follow Tony out the door.

"You think he's telling us everything he knows?" Mike asked.

"I do," Jethro answered. "It took some time to get him to open up but he's told us things that makes me think he wouldn't hold anything back."

Mike sat quietly for a moment, thinking over his encounter with Tony before nodding. "I agree," he said. "That's all for tonight, Probie."

Jethro nodded and popped up off the wall. "In that case I think I'm gonna go for a run," he said.

Mike hid the knowing smile that wanted to come out and nodded instead. Oh yeah, there was definitely something going on.

Without waiting for permission or Mike to question or refuse him, Jethro headed out the door and started jogging at a slow, easy pace towards the area he and Tony had rendezvoused the previous day. Just when he started to worry that something had happened to Tony, the man fell into place next to him, a small rucksack on his back.

"I was starting to get worried," Jethro admitted.

"It's hard to jog with a hard dick," Tony replied with a grin.

"My dick's hard too."

Tony glanced down at the front of Jethro's shorts and grinned. "Yep, there's definitely something swinging around in there. You're not wearing underwear again, are you?"

"Nope and he's anxious to play with you," Jethro said.

"Don't worry," Tony replied, "I know a spot that's nearby." He turned them off the dirt road and they slowed to a walk to prevent any twisted ankles or broken bones from the uneven landscape in the dark. Tony reached for Jethro's hand and led the way a short distance into the darkness. "We'll be safe here," he said, slipping his rucksack off and pulling a blanket out.

"Whatcha got there?"

"Blanket. It's waterproof and it'll keep the sand out of all those inconvenient places."

"I'm glad you had the foresight to think ahead," Jethro said.

"Sometimes I manage to think with both heads at the same time," Tony joked.

"I've only been thinking with one since I met you."

Tony grinned as he ran his hand down the center of Jethro's chest and abdomen and grabbed at the bulge in his shorts before pulling back again. He tossed Jethro the rucksack and told him to get the pillow out while he spread the blanket over the still warm sand. It was a spot he visited often, especially when he wanted to be alone. Early on in his deployment, he'd smoothed out the sandy landscape into one that cradled his body perfectly as he reclined back against the ground and stared up at the stars. He wouldn't be staring up at the stars that night, though. He had something much better to focus on.

Jethro pulled the pillow out and tossed it onto the blanket after Tony had spread it out in the sand. The moon offered just enough light to add a romantic flare to the evening and the stars were like nothing that people who lived near civilized society could even imagine.

Tony tugged his uniform shirt over his head and let it fall to the ground as he lowered himself onto the blanket, imploring Jethro to join him. Jethro got rid of his shirt before settling next to Tony on the ground. He was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the niche Tony had created was.

The kissing started immediately and there was no questioning the hunger in either man. Jethro went from propped on his side to crawling on top of Tony, hovering over him as he attempted to satisfy a need he knew deep in his heart would never be fully satisfied. He could never have enough of Tony, even when they were wholly possessing each other.

Kissing turned to nipping and nipping to soft love bites until Tony was reluctantly pushing Jethro back as he gasped for air. "I can't breathe," he panted.

Jethro turned his attention to the man's body, licking and kissing his way across the man's chest, easily finding both hardened nipples as his fingers traveled lower and worked the buttons on Tony's pants. He suckled against the soft skin of Tony's abdomen as he folded the man's pants back, reached inside and released Tony's cock.

Tony spread his legs and smiled up at his lover as the man eagerly freed his prize. "I've been thinking about this all day," he purred, "dreaming about it, imagining what you might do to me."

"What do you want me to do to you?" Jethro asked, tugging Tony's pants down until the man could kick them off.

"I want you to make me beg you to let me cum," Tony answered.

"How about I start by stroking your cock," Jethro said as he did it.

"Mmm," Tony hummed.

"While I get your ass hole all lubed up with my tongue," Jethro continued.

"Oh shit," Tony growled, his dick already straining in Jethro's hand.

"You really like that idea," Jethro observed, dropping his head.

Tony reached for Jethro's head and wove his fingers through the man's short hair. He let his lover lift his legs and expose his hole and watched as Jethro's head disappeared between his legs. He could feel the man's hot breath against his ball sack and hole, then felt a wet tongue swipe across his perineum before licking roughly against his puckered entrance, all while stroking his dick firmly with one hand.

"I'm glad I just came an hour ago," Tony panted, "because if I hadn't, I'd be exploding all over the place right now."

"That'd be disappointing," Jethro replied before going back to work with his tongue. He licked from Tony's cockhead, down the underside of his shaft and over his heavy ball sack before focusing on Tony's hole once again.

Tony fisted his hands into the blanket beneath him and held on for dear life while Jethro licked and suckled, probed and explored every sensitive, secret part of his body. It wasn't long before he was thrusting his hips, wanting and needing more. He needed to feel the man filling his body with his perfect cock while he wrapped his hand tightly around his dick and stroked in rhythm with the thrusting. The blowjob an hour earlier hand taken enough of the pressure off that he didn't feel an overwhelming sense of urgency but it hadn't even put a dent in the need Tony felt.

"Pace yourself, Tony," Jethro murmured before leaving a trail of saliva across the crease of his lover's leg, over his belly button and up to his chest. He nibbled on the man's jawline causing Tony to throw his head back in pleasure and offer his lover more of his body.

"I want you so fucking bad, Jethro," Tony breathed.

"Suck my dick," Jethro urged as he crawled up Tony's body and fed the man his cock. "Get me lubed up." He carefully thrust into Tony's mouth until his eyes started rolling back into his head and his body threatened to betray him. "You're too good at that," he muttered.

Tony lifted his legs into the air after Jethro had once again settled between them, opening himself up to his lover.

"No witty response?" Jethro asked, lining himself up and rubbing his cockhead against Tony's hole.

"I'm too turned on," Tony muttered.

Jethro grinned as he pushed into Tony's body. His lover's dick pulsed as the moon glinted off the precum oozing out of him from his overwhelming excitement. "Look at you," Jethro praised softly, his fingers finding the precum as it leaked out.

Tony pressed a finger and his thumb to the base of his cock and stroked lightly, producing more precum for his lover to play with and earning himself more of the praises and delightful hums from Jethro as the man thrust in and out, pushing in a little farther each time.

"A little excited?" Jethro teased, moving Tony's hand out of the way with one of his and wrapping his other around the man's dick.

"I'm so fucking turned on right now." Tony's words were harsh and desperate and Jethro loved the sense of urgency. Tony threw his arms over his head and gave himself completely over to Jethro. The man was either going to having him cuming in record time or he knew how to work his body over expertly. Either way, Tony knew he was in for a wild ride that would have an explosive finish.

Tony moaned and writhed beneath Jethro's skillful fingers and tongue, his body barreling closer and closer to completion. When Jethro's confident movements turned into uncontrolled jerks he knew the man was just as close as he was. Sharper strokes and a tighter grip on Tony's dick, followed by a command from Jethro to 'cum with me' took the last of Tony's control away from him and had him painting his belly and chest white while Jethro let himself go inside Tony's pulsing hole.

Curses turned to grunts and moans before fizzling out to heavy breathing as bodies stilled under the cool breeze of the desert night. It got even harder for Tony to breathe with Jethro's added weight on his chest but Tony loved the sensation and wrapped his arms around the man, unwilling to let him go yet.

"Will your boss freak if you don't come home tonight?" Tony asked.

"He's my boss, not my dad," Jethro replied.

"Spend the night out here with me," Tony said. "Everybody should spend the night in the desert at least once."

"I've spent more nights than I care to remember in the desert, Tony," Jethro teased.

"But I'm guessing never with a lover or even anyone to cuddle with."

Jethro rubbed noses with Tony as he kissed the man. "You're guessing right," he said against Tony's lips.

"Me either," Tony replied. "I have a feeling this will be the first of many first time experiences we have together, Jethro."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Search and Seizure**

Despite another long night with Tony and not very much sleep, Jethro had his game face on when Mike pounded on the door to JD Biggs' bunk early the next morning. As soon as the man answered, he was placed under arrest and left in the custody of two of the base MPs while Mike and Jethro entered the room to search it.

"You start on that side of the room, I'll start over here," Mike said, pointing to one side of the room while he headed for the other.

Jethro shook out the gloves he'd tucked into his pocket on the way to the barracks and slipped his hands into them as he eyed his side of the room before beginning his search. It wasn't long before the investigators discovered large amounts of cash that hadn't been hidden very well and a stockpile of alcohol, which was contraband not only on the military base but in the country they were in.

Despite Biggs' protests, the discovery along with Tony's statement was more than enough to hold him on. Mike had the MPs escort the man to the brig while he and Jethro headed to Hammond's bunk and repeated the process.

They weren't very far into the search of Hammond's bunk when Jethro felt his gut drop. He glanced over his shoulder at his boss, curious about whether the man was feeling the same thing but with Mike leaned over searching through Hammond's things, it was hard to tell.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mike grumbled.

"If you're thinking that Hammond put all the evidence in Biggs' bunk so he could pawn this whole thing off on him then yeah," Jethro replied before cursing harshly under his breath.

"It ain't over yet," Mike muttered as he continued searching. "Keep looking."

Two hours later Mike was pacing around in Biggs' blind spot in a makeshift interrogation room and he was not at all happy about how things were going. There was not a shred of evidence linking Hammond to the crimes but an overwhelming amount had been found in Biggs' bunk—too much, actually. Any investigator who'd been on the job any amount of time would know to be suspicious of the sheer amount of evidence so easily accessible but thanks to a phone call from the retired Hammond, SecNav had decided the situation needed his attention and mountains of evidence outweighed gut instincts in his book.

"We found big, fat wads of cash, all small bills, in your room, Biggs," Mike said harshly, "along with stockpiles of alcohol, which, I don't need to tell you, is a big no-no. Hammond's trying to pin this all on you. Are you gonna let him get away with that?"

"Get away with what?" Biggs replied. "I don't know where that money or booze came from but it's not mine and as far as I know it has nothing to do with Hammond."

"Oh, come on. That's weak, Biggs! You seriously don't expect anyone to buy that, do you?"

"I don't care if anyone believes it or not," Biggs said. "That's the truth. My story's not gonna change."

"You're gonna throw your whole life, all that hard work, all those accomplishments away, for a scumbag like Hammond? You have a chance to help yourself and stop him. Otherwise he's just gonna keep doing this. Come on, Biggs," Mike urged. "We're talking about murder here."

"I'm innocent," Biggs said confidently. "Do whatever you gotta do. I'll take my chance at trial."

* * *

Jethro couldn't stop pacing back and forth, rubbing at the nape of his neck as he did so. He was upset but he knew he needed to tread lightly and not overstep his boundaries. "This isn't right, Boss, and you know it." He couldn't quite keep the threatening tone out of his voice causing Mike to narrow his eyes dangerously at his second.

"Watch it, Probie," the man warned.

"Hammond's the ring leader," Jethro argued. "He pawned everything off on Biggs and now we're leaving him out here and leaving our witness and these troops unprotected while we run off back to the states."

"We're not running off, Gunny," Mike countered. "Is Hammond in this up to his eyeballs? There's no doubt in my mind but we've done all we can do here and now it's time for us to head home. We'll keep investigating stateside while Brooks keeps an eye on things here. That's all we can do right now."

"We don't even know what's going on! Why was Kip killed? How did Biggs get his hands on all that booze? What drugs is he taking that he's wandering around base in the middle of the night, stoned out of his mind? Where's he getting those? Are there more somewhere? There's too many unanswered questions to just up and leave."

"We can answer all those questions back in California. I don't like this anymore than you do, Gunny, but the SecNav gave his orders."

"What about Tony? What about all the others?!" Jethro argued angrily.

"That's all we can do, Probie," Mike stated firmly with a look that told his junior agent that the conversation was over.

Jethro opened his mouth to continue arguing but one look at Mike and he decided against it and walked out of the room they were sharing instead. He wasn't sure where he was going until a short way down the path, Tony fell in step next to him. The two walked side by side for a long while before Tony reached out and wrapped one of his fingers around one of Jethro's.

Jethro sighed heavily, releasing some of the anger and anxiety as he exhaled. "We fly out in a couple hours," he said regretfully.

"I heard," Tony replied sadly, meshing their fingers together and squeezing the man's hand tightly.

"Hammond pinned everything on Biggs. We've got no evidence against him and no one's talking."

"So he's getting out of this unscathed," Tony concluded.

"He's being cited for losing control of those under him but it's just a slap on the wrist. His very influential, retired high ranking officer daddy made sure of that. He's dangerous, Tony."

"Oh, trust me, I know," Tony replied with an uncomfortable laugh.

"Come back with me," Jethro pleaded. "I'll put you in protective custody."

Tony stopped them and looked over at the man he'd grown so close to. "My place is here, Jethro."

Jethro broke eye contact but nodded. "I know. I get it. I'd stay too. I just worry about leaving you out here." The cut across the man's groin told Jethro that someone knew Tony was the one talking to investigators and that was a dangerous position for the corpsman to be in in a war zone.

"Is Brooks sticking around?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. He'll be here through the end of your tour overseeing everything. He knows you're our witness and he knows we suspect Hammond's involved knee deep in everything that's going on around here."

"We'll be okay now," Tony said, wishing he felt as confident as he sounded. "And there's less than a month left on our tour. We'll be home before we know it and I'm definitely gonna look you up Special Agent Jethro Gibbs."

"You are, are you?" Jethro asked, appreciative of the humor. "Gonna use the white pages or are you more of a Google kinda guy?"

"I don't need the white pages or Google," Tony replied with a playful arrogance.

"And why is that?"

"'cause you gave me your business card," Tony replied, producing the small piece of cardstock seemingly out of nowhere.

Jethro smiled a half smile as he took the card from Tony. He flipped it over and on the back of it, underneath his handwritten phone number he wrote his home address then handed it back to Tony. "Hurry home, Sailor," he said softly, his eyes searching Tony's.

"You gonna leave the light on for me, Gunny?"

"You better believe it," Jethro replied as he went in for a hungry, possessive kiss. He rested his hand against Tony's cheek and his forehead against Tony's as he searched his lover's eyes.

"I'll be okay," Tony said with a soft insistence and a gentle smile.

"You better be," Jethro replied playfully. He brushed his fingertips lightly down Tony's cheek. He'd struggled with rough cases and difficult situations before but staring into Tony's eyes, brushing his fingertips across the man's soft skin, he found himself so deeply involved that he was absolutely terrified of losing the man, of losing someone else he loved more than life itself all because he couldn't protect him. The thought made him sick to his stomach and had him stumbling away as he keeled over, clenching his gut and vomiting up the last meal he'd eaten.

"Jethro? Jethro!" Tony was at the man's side in an instant, standing by helplessly as Jethro tried desperately to pull himself together. "Are you okay? What's going on?" Tony asked when the man finally righted himself.

Jethro wiped at his mouth and attempted to spit the horrible aftertaste out. "Sorry," he said weakly. There was no hiding his embarrassment. "I'm okay."

"Don't you have a rule against apologies? You're starting to scare me. What just happened? You're not pregnant, are you? I knew not using a condom was a bad idea!" He had to throw a little joke in there to take the edge off, despite being incredibly worried about the man.

Jethro smiled halfheartedly, thankful, once again, for the humor. Tony always knew how to make him smile. "I just... I lost two people who were very close to me because I couldn't protect them," he finally admitted. "I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

"It won't," Tony replied firmly. "I'll be okay, I promise. In less than a month I'll be back in the states and as soon as I can after I land, I'll be knocking on your door. Everything's gonna be okay. _We_ are going to be okay."

Jethro nodded his head. "I'm gonna keep working things from Pendleton," he vowed. "There's gotta be a way to get Hammond. There's no such thing as the perfect crime and there's no way in hell I'm gonna let a scumbag like Hammond get away with anything."

"If anyone can do it, you can," Tony replied confidently. He softened his expression and a pained but genuine smile settled onto his face. "Hey, Jethro?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you. I love you for real."

Jethro returned the smile, not letting Tony's declaration frighten him in the least. "I love you back, Tony."

* * *

The long, smooth strokes of a sandpaper covered sanding block gliding over the frame of the boat were only halfhearted at best. Lying across the plywood inside the frame of the boat was the paperwork containing all they knew about Hammond. Jethro knew there was something in there, a tiny clue that was the key to nailing the man for the crimes that had most likely been his idea in the first place but he hadn't found it yet and until he did there would be no more relaxing evenings shaping wood into boats.

His halfhearted sanding and constant studying was interrupted by his ringing phone but unlike the normal frown the interruption would normally put on his face, a smile appeared instead because he knew who was on the other end of the line.

"Hey, Sailor."

"Hi, Gunny."

Jethro closed his eyes at the sound of Tony's voice, picturing the man's face as he listened to his words. He'd returned from Afghanistan a week earlier and he'd talked to Tony every night since. Discussions about their days usually turned into both of them getting off while they had phone sex, before crawling into bed for the night, worlds apart but staring up at the same moon.

It was difficult but it was only for a month and Jethro refused to think about what would happen if or most likely when Tony was redeployed. He now found himself on the other side of deployment heartache and had a better understanding of what those he'd always left behind went through while he faced his own struggles overseas. Being in the military was definitely a job the entire family clocked in at.

"Saw your buddy Biggs today," Jethro told Tony. "He's miserable."

"Think he'll talk?" Tony asked. Maybe after a couple days in the brig, Biggs would be begging for mercy in the form of leniency.

"My boss is holding out hope but I looked into his eyes, Tony. As miserable as he is, he's not gonna give us anything we want." He sighed in frustration before changing the conversation to something a little more positive. "How are you doing over there?"

"Great, actually," Tony answered cheerfully. "Everything seems to have returned to normal. Well, without all the criminal activity going on behind closed doors. Maybe they're just trying to lull us into a false sense of security," he added, only half-jokingly. "Brooks is a good guy."

"That only makes me feel a little better," Jethro admitted.

"Two more weeks," Tony reassured the man. "What're you doing tonight?"

"Same ole, same ole," Jethro answered.

"I still don't believe you're actually building a boat in your basement," Tony replied with a chuckle. "I won't believe it till I see it."

"My door is always open."

"You keep saying that." There was a short silence which made Tony smile. Jethro wasn't the best at keeping the conversation going and somehow Tony knew he was lucky to get the man on the phone at all. He doubted many people had that privilege. "Where's your dick?" he asked softly.

"In my pants," Jethro answered, almost shyly.

"Mmm," Tony hummed. "Mine's in my hand. It's already pretty hard, just from hearing your voice." There was another pause but that wasn't unexpected. "He misses you."

"I miss you. I miss him."

"Take yours out," Tony urged.

"I just did."

"Are you stroking it? Rub your hand over it and pretend it's my hand."

"I do that all the time," Jethro admitted as he began. The smile faded from his face when he heard his front door open and close and his boss's deep voice echoing through the sparsely furnished house.

"Probie!"

"My boss just walked in the door," Jethro muttered, quickly tucking himself away.

"When I get there, we're definitely making an exception and locking your front door," Tony said.

"No arguments here," Jethro replied, listening as Mike's steps got closer and closer. "Love you."

Halfway across the world, Tony smiled sadly, not wanting to cut his conversation short. It had been a long day and his favorite way to unwind was talking to Jethro until the early hours of the morning. "I love you back." He could hear Mike's voice in the background and scowled. After the way the man had treated him, Mike wasn't one of his favorite people. "Do you really have to go?" he asked.

"I wish I didn't but we have a case," Jethro answered regretfully. "You gonna be okay?"

"Always," Tony answered, letting Jethro hear the smile in his voice. "I'll call you tomorrow. Same bat channel, same bat time."

"I'll be waiting by the phone," Jethro replied, letting himself smile as he hung the phone up.

"How's DiNozzo?" Mike asked as he made it to the bottom of the stairs.

Jethro cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at the man.

"I may have been born at night but is sure as hell wasn't last night, Probie," Mike said. "Go get yourself dressed. We got a long night ahead of us."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Behind Enemy Lines**

Tony rubbed his eyes as he dragged his feet across the tarmac, lugging nearly one hundred pounds of gear with him. He wasn't sleeping again, hadn't since Jethro had left but he told himself and the others that it was just the normal exhaustion that hit all of them during the last weeks of deployment and they seemed to buy it. At least if they didn't, no one was saying anything about it. The only one not buying it was Jethro but it was a little bit easier to lie to the man when he wasn't peering into those studious blue eyes. Jethro seemed to have a unique talent of seeing right through him. Tony sensed he still could on the phone but it was easier for the corpsman to deceive and distract.

Morale among the corpsman stationed at Camp Phoenix had gone down considerably since NCIS had taken JD Biggs and Tristan Bowles into custody. Despite operations beginning to run like they were meant to again, it was a change and change wasn't always easy eight and a half months in with only two weeks remaining.

To make matters worse, Cole Hammond was still lurking around the base, creating a constant underlying power struggle between good and evil. All the man had to do was glance in a certain direction and his troops knew to fall in line. It was what he'd spent the last eight months grooming them to do. With no evidence of the sneaky undertakings and Hammond's very influential father, Brooks was powerless to put an end to the man's rule. At least until something else awful happened.

The added pressure on top of the normal stress of their jobs and the sheer exhaustion that came at the end of each deployment all made for a heady combination.

When Tony made it to the chopper just moments before his shift started, the rest of the team was already there. They were gathered around Hammond who appeared to be addressing the group which was suspicious in and of itself but even more suspicious was the fact that Hammond stopped speaking and everyone simply stared at Tony as he approached.

"Morning," Tony greeted in his usual, perky tone but it was impossible to hide the weariness in his voice.

"Did you grab the cardiac bag, DiNozzo," Hammond asked, ignoring Tony's greeting.

"No, I kinda have my hands full," Tony replied with little enough snark that he could easily deny it.

"Well, since Bowles is no longer part of this team, it rests on us to pick up the slack," Hammond shot back with a hard look that told Tony he was being punished for Bowles' absence.

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Tony's stomach as he looked around at the group. There was definitely something suspicious going on but he knew he'd never get it out of anybody with Hammond standing there so he turned and headed back towards the command center to grab the rest of their gear, deciding he'd just figure it out later.

Hammond watched him walk away before turning and addressing the group again. "Everybody clear on what they're supposed to do?"

"Clear, Sir," the group replied in unison.

"Good. Now don't forget what's on the line, boys. This one's for Bowles."

* * *

Tony sat in the command center, tilted back on two legs of the folding chair, throwing a tennis ball straight up into the air and catching it. There was something about the repeated motion that kept him occupied. "So, what'd I miss at this morning's briefing?" he asked no one in particular. He and his teammates were sitting around waiting for a call out, all of them hoping none would come but knowing they would. They never ended a shift without heading out at least once.

"Not much," Ozzy answered. "It was just Hammond being Hammond. You know how it goes with him."

"Yeah, that's what worries me," Tony said softly. He paused the repeated action with the tennis ball, met Ozzy's gaze and held it. "Is something wrong, Oz? I feel like there's this underlying tension since Biggs and Bowles left."

"Nothing's wrong, man," Ozzy assured him. "I think we're all just tired at this point. It's been a long eight and a half months."

"Copy that," Tony replied. He wanted to believe his friend but somehow the man's words didn't ease his conscious or do anything to settle his nerves.

Tony glanced around the partially air conditioned room, watching as each of his teammates did their own thing. Some were reading, some writing and some were watching movies on their laptops while others were relaxed with their eyes closed, all fairly normal activities while they waited for the alarm to go off and spur them into action.

Tony did his best to shake off the uneasy feeling, put his ball away and pulled out the book he'd abandoned when Jethro had showed up, hoping it might capture his attention. Ten minutes later, when he'd yet to turn the page or even read and comprehend the second sentence, he realized that wasn't going to happen but a very distinctive battle cry alert sounded, getting his adrenaline pumping and forcing him to his feet. Something had happened somewhere out on the vast battlefield. It was time for them to head to the choppers. A fly order seemed imminent.

The group secured their body armor to themselves and grabbed their weapons as they hurried out the door, into the heat of the midday sun. As they milled around on the tarmac, doing last minute checks and waiting for the final order to come down, Tony realized that for the first time since setting foot in the country, how ready he was to return to the states. The team had been fractured and Tony's part in the investigation left him with a guilty conscious. He knew Hammond blamed him for what had happened and couldn't help but feel like the others blamed him as well. If he couldn't win the guys back over with his irresistible charm then the remaining two weeks could end up being very awkward but Tony had been through worse. All he had to do was keep his head down and make it back to the states in one piece.

"Orders just came through," the pilot reported, "we're flying, gentlemen."

Adrenaline pumped as the group split into two groups and poured into the two choppers. Tony joined his half of the team in the Bravo chopper, settling near the door as he listened to the details the dispatcher in the command center was rattling off in their headsets. The village they were headed to was remote and surrounded by hills on one side and wide open desert on the other. Hills always raised the danger level because of unseen threats lurking nearby but the village itself wasn't a hotspot of enemy activity. It was dangerous but they were usually in much worse situations.

Their patients were three teen boys who had been playing soccer when one of them stepped on an IED that was buried not too deep under the ground. At least one was in critical shape and needed to make it to the hospital within the golden hour in order to have a chance at survival.

While the alpha and bravo choppers quickly made their way to the scene, a group of soldiers from a nearby Army EOD unit carefully scanned the ground for more IEDs, lessening the chances of the chopper touching down on a device that would cost them all their lives. It was a big effort, meant to keep everyone safe.

"Landing zone has been cleared and marked," one of the EOD techs reported to the quickly approaching choppers.

"Copy that," the pilot responded. "We're ninety seconds out."

It was decided that the Bravo chopper would land and that team would tend to the patients while the Alpha chopper circled above, keeping an eye out and providing cover. It was a precaution they took on every run: one group on the ground, tending to patients and the other in the air, watching their sixes. The group in the Bravo chopper divvied up tasks as they circled before approaching and landing. Once they were on the ground Tony was the first one out, his weapon aimed as he scanned what had turned into a chaotic but not yet unmanageable scene through the dust the rotor blades had kicked up.

"Your victims are over there," an Army EOD tech yelled, pointing Tony in the direction of the three downed teens. "We marked the path we cleared for you. If you don't need anything else from us, we have orders to head elsewhere."

"We're good," Tony yelled back, giving the man a thumbs up. "Thank you."

While his teammates filtered past him and headed for their patients, Tony worked on identifying the escort that would ride with the boys to the hospital. The language barrier and growing crowd added unneeded confusion, leaving Tony in the midst of the crowd while his teammates had already gotten the teenagers onto backboards and loaded them back into the chopper.

"These kids are in bad shape," Ozzy reported into the microphone at his wrist. "We've gotta go now. Where's our escort, DiNozzo?"

"I'm working on it," Tony replied. He was still nearly one hundred feet away from the chopper while the rest of his teammates were busily working to save the lives of the three teenagers.

"We can't wait any longer," Chase said. "This kid's gonna die if we don't go _now_."

"Leaving without an escort will cost us our jobs," Tony replied. "We gotta—"

"It's a risk we have to take," Nate interrupted, ignoring Tony completely. "There's no more time to wait. Go, go, go!"

"No, guys, wait!" Tony yelled, running back towards the chopper as it lifted off the ground. "Wait!" But all he could do was stand there and watch helplessly as his teammates quickly disappeared from sight. He turned back towards the villagers who had witnessed the whole thing. His heart was racing and his eyes were wide in panic as he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened.

The first thing that popped into his head was the first thing that came out of his mouth. "Oh shit."

* * *

Jethro sat with a tumbler of bourbon in one hand and both eyes glued to the phone in his basement. He'd given up on sanding an hour earlier, after Tony was already an hour late calling. He'd checked and double checked to make sure the volume on his phone was turned up, even though there was no reason it wouldn't be, and he'd lost track of how many times he'd picked the phone up to check for a dial tone. Everything on his end was working properly yet Tony still hadn't called. The man's shift had ended over two hours prior, giving him plenty of time to work late, take a shower, go for a run or do whatever else he needed to do. Tony had called him every single night since he'd returned to the states. There was no reason he wouldn't call that night unless something had happened, something terrible.

As the night dragged on, Jethro grew more and more anxious. Sanding had turned to drinking and drinking turned to pacing. He turned the news on and off, watching for any report of a Navy corpsman killed in action and then deciding he couldn't handle knowing, even though he knew it was too early for the news to make it back to the states yet. He didn't even bother lying down, knowing sleep would never come.

Just before three o'clock, he got himself dressed and headed for the NCIS office on base. If something had happened, NCIS would have the resources for him to find out and he couldn't wait any longer.

With no traffic on the road, Jethro made it to Camp Pendleton in record time and navigated the roads on base with ease. He offered a curt greeting to the security guard on duty before making a beeline for his corner of the squad room. After turning on the TV he plopped down in his chair and turned his computer on.

Jethro waited impatiently for his computer to boot up, wondering if it was taking twice as long just to spite him. When it finally came to life, he immediately began searching through internal sites for any news that might be related to Tony and the reason for the man's missed phone call. Frustration only grew as he clicked through site after site and found nothing.

He resisted the urge to put his fist through the screen and picked up his phone instead. After dialing six of the seven numbers that would connect him to his boss he decided against it, realizing how foolish Mike would think he sounded. He stared at the phone for a long minute before picking it up again but almost immediately slammed it down with a curse once more. If he woke his boss in the middle of the night because of a gut feeling with no proof to back it up, the man would not be happy at all and would most likely dismiss his concerns but there was no doubt in his mind that something was terribly wrong at Camp Phoenix.

A quick glance at his watch told Jethro it was just after four o'clock. Mike would be up in an hour and arriving on base in two. He rubbed his face in his hands, contemplating his next move and quickly decided that not even an act of God could keep him from getting to Tony so he headed home to pack for the trip.

* * *

Mike's morning went from bad to worse when he parked his truck in his spot at the NCIS office on base and Jethro immediately appeared at his door. Things got a little better when the man offered him a large cup of strong, steaming coffee but took another turn as soon as his second opened his mouth and revealed the reason for the eager early morning greeting.

"Something happened at Camp Phoenix," Jethro said trying to maintain a strong, confident front when in reality nothing would stop him from getting down on his hands and knees and begging his boss to do something.

"What? When? How'd we find out?" Mike asked, hurrying towards the building, to their little corner of the squad room.

"Well, there's nothing official," Jethro admitted sheepishly, "at least not yet."

Mike stopped, turned and pinned his second with a hard look, a look that told Jethro he'd better start talking quickly and making sense even faster.

"Something's wrong, Boss," Jethro said sincerely, "I know it."

Mike started walking again, without as much urgency, and listened as his second made his case.

"Something's wrong with Tony," Jethro continued. "He didn't call me last night."

"He supposed to check in with you every night, Probie?" Mike asked.

"Well, kinda... no... yes? He has been," Jethro stuttered. He'd been so worried that he hadn't considered bringing his concerns to his boss would out him and Tony and then he remembered that his boss had already walked in on one of their middle of the night calls. The man just hadn't known they talked _every_ night. "I just wanted to make sure he was safe." It was only a half lie. "We left him over there completely exposed, with no backup, nowhere to hide, no one to watch his six and now, for the first time since we left, he's missed checking in. Something happened. Without Tony we wouldn't have Biggs in custody and we'd still be scratching our heads over Kiplinger's death. We owe it to him to at least put a call in to Brooks."

Mike stared silently at his second for a moment longer before nodding in satisfaction. Jethro had done a good job of making his case and the man was right. Besides, there was no harm in a phone call. "Alright. I'll get Brooks on the horn."

* * *

It was nearly an hour later before Mike was finally connected with Josh Brooks, with Jethro standing eagerly behind him.

"Agent Franks, Agent Gibbs," Josh greeted warmly, although the man's body language said he was in a hurry to get back to whatever he'd been doing before they interrupted him. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"Probie," Mike said, stepping aside and turning the floor over to his agent.

Jethro stepped up in front of the computer screen where he could see Josh. "This may sound crazy, Sir," he started, "but my gut's telling me something's not quite right over there."

"Your gut is right," Josh replied. "I'm working on unraveling a situation that was just brought to my attention. It would appear DiNozzo is missing. His teammates are saying he abandoned his post, walked off while they were on the ground picking up some wounded during his shift yesterday. They're calling him a deserter and Hammond's backing them."

Jethro's heart felt like it had completely stopped beating inside his chest. "No way, Sir," he said firmly.

"I agree," Josh replied. "I'm getting ready to debrief the men right now and I'm trying to get a replacement team in here for them before their next shift. I don't like how this is playing out one bit. If you guys will excuse me, I've got a lot on my plate right now. I'll keep you in the loop as best as I can but I've got a missing corpsman to find."

Mike nudged Jethro out of the way and stood front and center once again. "Need a hand over there, Brooks?"

"I'll accept any help you can give, Agent Franks. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm in over my head here." He'd dealt with a few wayward soldiers over the course of his career but he was up against nearly an entire unit and with one man missing the stakes couldn't have been any higher.

"Keep the men separated," Mike ordered. "Don't let 'em talk to each other. We're on our way."

Josh Brooks visibly relaxed and saluted the former military men. "Roger that. See you guys when you get here."

The connection was disconnected and Mike turned to his junior agent. "Pack your bags, Probie. We have a plane to catch."

"They're already packed."

* * *

Josh Brooks may not have been trained to run an investigation but there was no time to waste. Sitting around waiting for NCIS to arrive was a luxury DiNozzo didn't have. He'd leaned on Tony's teammates hard and finally determined exactly which call Tony hadn't returned on and an offer from one of the Marine Force Recon officers they shared the base with provided some hope of finding the lost corpsman. If anyone could find Tony in the endless square miles of the foreign land, it was the Marines on the Force Recon team, many of whom knew Tony very well and counted him as one of their own.

By the time Brooks headed to the airfield to pick Mike and Jethro up, the Marines were going over drone footage from a nearby area in hopes of inadvertently catching sight of DiNozzo, there was a group of Marines on the ground in the tiny village looking for the corpsman and asking questions and there was a team at the hospital where the boys had been dropped off, talking with the escort who had witnessed the whole thing and had ended up at the hospital _after_ the boys, finding his own ride when the chopper had left him behind.

"What do we need to know, Brooks?" Mike asked, forgoing the traditional greeting as he stepped off the plane onto the tarmac.

"I've got your men separated and guards posted to make sure they don't talk or communicate in any way," Brooks reported. "I talked to 'em just enough to get Tony's last known location out of them but nothing to hint that they're gonna be on the line for this. I've got a team of Marines on the ground in the village where Tony was last seen and a group looking over footage from a drone that was in the area at the time."

"Force Recon?" Jethro asked, climbing into the Jeep that would take them to the heart of the base.

Brooks nodded.

"They're the best," Jethro stated.

"Probie, I want you to oversee the search and rescue," Mike ordered. "I don't think I need to tell you to assist without getting in the way of what these guys do best. Be an asset, not an ass."

"Yes, Boss," Jethro replied. He wanted to be offended by the way Mike had phrased his order but he was thankful for the opportunity to help get Tony back so he kept his mouth shut. He'd worked with Force Recon on more than one occasion as a Scout Sniper and knew how they worked. They were the best and there was no doubt in Jethro's mind that they could get Tony back. The question was, would it be before it was too late?

"I'm assuming your other team got here to replace the men on their shift?" Mike asked, turning his attention to Brooks. If the other team hadn't made it, Tony's team would be on duty.

"They made it just in the nick of time."

"Good. I'm not putting these guys back in the field."

"I agree," Brooks added. "It was like pulling teeth to get them to tell me where they'd lost Tony. It took a while before their stories added up too. That and they know they need to report desertion immediately, not wait till the end of their shift ten hours later. Something's off about this whole situation but you're trained to figure out what that is. I'm not."

"That's what I'll be working on. What condition are they in? Have the guys slept at all since this happened?" Mike asked.

"A few of them took a catnap in the rooms they're being held in," Brooks answered. "A few of them are nervous and maybe even regretful. When I talked to them, Ozzy seemed the weakest and most likely to break but I haven't spoken with them in a couple hours so that might've changed."

"We'll figure this out. We'll get Tony back," Mike stated confidently. He left off the 'dead or alive' part. Tony had been alone in enemy territory for ten hours before anyone even knew he was missing. It had been almost twenty four hours before their search and rescue operation finally started gaining momentum and now, thirty six hours in, NCIS was finally arriving on scene to try to figure out what had happened in the tiny Afghani village that had kept Tony from getting on the chopper and returning to base with his teammates. That was a long time to be alone without food or water in a country full of people who wanted Americans dead.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Best Case Scenarios and Worst Case Situations**

Tony shivered in the cool, damp darkness of the underground bunker he was being held in. He'd been violently stripped of all his gear and clothing with the exception of his underwear and beaten nearly unconscious when he'd resisted giving the items up willingly. He had no idea how long ago that had been. It could've been hours, days or even weeks.

Worse than losing his gear and clothing, Tony had no idea where he was, who was holding him captive or what they wanted. The place he was being held didn't feel like one of the POW camps of old but with modern war tactics, nothing would surprise him. All he knew was he was underground, in a room that was always cold, always dark and always damp. It had no doors, no windows or any form of connection with the outside world.

The only excitement in Tony's day happened when a shadowy figure opened a trap door, came down the rickety stairs and dropped a plate of mushy slop on the floor in front of him and even that didn't happen on a regular basis. At least he didn't think it did. He'd lost all concept of time and after spending chunks of his time in captivity passed out, he wasn't sure if he'd been down there a day or a week or a month.

Tony wanted to believe that if he just held on long enough, someone would come for him but a big part of him wondered if anyone even knew he was missing, at least anyone who cared. He couldn't help but feel a bit hopeless. Days earlier he'd been excited about the quickly approaching end of his deployment and looking forward to meeting up with Jethro back in the U.S. and now he was suffering in an underground bunker of sorts that would most likely end up being his grave.

Pressure built behind Tony's eyes as tears threatened to spill out but he fought against them. His situation may have left him feeling hopeless and his body may ache all over but he was a United States Navy Corpsman. He was tough and unwilling to give up. He was also unsure how to hold on.

The idea of overpowering his captor when he came down with his next meal was unrealistic considering he was weak and the fact that he could barely move and even if he did somehow manage to get the better of the man, he had no idea how many more people were in the building or even where the building was. He could end up being in the middle of an al-Qaeda training camp.

A lonely, unwelcomed tear made a trail down his cheek, washing away some of the dust and dirt. Tony decided he was too tired to think anymore. He needed to get a little rest and his body needed to heal and even more important than both of those, he needed to get his head on straight so he could come up with a viable plan and get himself out of the tight situation he was in because he was still a DiNozzo and DiNozzos could always figure a way out of a tight situation. It was the one useful skill his father had passed down to him.

* * *

After a delayed start to the investigation into Tony's disappearance, everything seemed to be happening at once. All three groups of Marines were filtering into the command center at once as the briefing began and all had news they were anxious to share. Brooks wasted no time starting the briefing, forgoing the traditional greetings in an effort to get the information as quickly as possible.

First up was Kinsler, one of the Marines who'd been painstakingly going over drone footage. "We weren't able to locate DiNozzo," he reported, "but considering there were no drones in the area, that's no surprise. The good news is al-Qaeda isn't very active in the village he went missing from. It is, however, a known route that local kidnappers use. They seem to be under the impression that all Americans are rich and will get them a sizable ransom payout, especially U.S. soldiers. I don't know if they think our government will contribute to the payment or what but they're obviously not very smart. If they had any brains in their heads, they'd know snatching soldiers was a death sentence. I'd be willing to put money on DiNozzo being picked up by kidnappers which is a best case scenario for a worst case situation. They'll keep him alive in hopes of cashing in."

"Let's check on that," Mike replied, pausing the meeting while he dug his SAT phone out of his pocket and dialed a familiar number. "Vera, find Anthony DiNozzo Sr. and see if he's received a ransom call." He hung up without giving his agent a chance to respond and looked at Brooks, turning the meeting back over to him.

"The villagers were pretty confused when the chopper took off without DiNozzo," McCann, the second Marine reported when it was his turn. "They said he was yelling and waving his arms and running towards the chopper."

"That proves the story I got from Tony's teammates is bull shit," Brooks said, "and Tony's not a deserter like Hammond's trying to make everyone believe."

"Hammond's in this up to his eyeballs," Mike ground out angrily before turning his attention back to the Marine. "Anything else, Staff Sergeant?"

"Everyone in the village was confused about what was happening and they all seemed to agree that DiNozzo appeared unsure and lost, not like he'd been left there with a purpose. Before anyone could make any sense of the situation, a pale yellow car drove by, turned around, doubled back and ran into Tony. Whoever was in the car got out, took Tony's weapon, gave him an injection in the bicep and threw him in the trunk of the car. There's conflicting reports on how many kidnappers there were. Some eyewitnesses remember two, some remember three."

"Shit," Brooks grumbled. "That definitely sounds like a kidnapping."

"Do you think this was part of the plan of leaving DiNozzo behind?" Mike asked.

Brooks thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't think they'd risk a ransom being paid or a rescue op being pulled off and Tony being brought back alive. I think Tony was meant to die out there but none of them had the balls to pull the trigger."

Jethro's anger boiled closer to the surface as he took in everything that was being said. It was a good thing Mike hadn't put him in charge of interrogating Tony's teammates.

"I agree," Mike replied, well aware of his second's barely controlled anger. He pointed at the third Marine representing the group who'd interviewed the witnesses at the hospital before flipping the page in his notebook and continuing to scribble down everything that was being said.

"One of the teenagers at the hospital was alert during the chopper ride," Cabrera reported. "He said there was a lot of yelling and confusion as they were taking off and then it just went silent. He doesn't speak English and he was strapped to a backboard so he didn't know Tony had been left behind. He said he thought one of his friends had died. The escort was at the hospital but he'd been left behind by the chopper so he didn't have much to add that McCann's team didn't already find out."

Jethro closed his eyes and let himself breathe a tiny sigh of relief as Brooks commended the Marines on a job well done and handed out orders on what to do next. They'd gathered a lot of promising intel in a fairly short amount of time, intel that let Jethro believe Tony had a good chance of making it back alive.

* * *

Mike took a long drag off his cigarette as he paced back and forth in front of the command center with his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and his ear.

"Senior admitted to receiving a ransom call the day after DiNozzo was allegedly kidnapped," Vera reported. "Scumbag thought it was a hoax, told me it was just some lowlife loser after his riches."

"He got the lowlife loser part right," Mike commented.

"Yeah, well, our kidnappers aren't the only lowlife losers in this situation," Vera continued. "Not only does daddy not have a patriotic bone in his body, he completely cut Junior off when he signed his life over to Uncle Sam. When I asked for access to his phone records so we could trace the ransom call, Senior said he's not paying any ransom and he doesn't owe the kid anything."

"How long for the warrant?" Mike asked.

"That's where karma comes into play," Vera said, her smile evident in her voice, "our judge is very familiar with Anthony DiNozzo Senior and he is _not_ a fan. Signed his name to the warrant on the spot, no questions asked."

"Good. Send us the information," Mike ordered. "We'll trace the call from here. These guys have technology that makes NCIS look like a shoebox operation."

* * *

The sound of Jethro's feet crunching against the dry, dirt path echoed endlessly across the barren landscape. There was no breeze to be found leaving his body dripping with sweat but that only made him run harder. He hated running. He had ever since the knee injury that had been partially responsible for ending his career in the Corps but he wasn't supposed to be enjoying himself. He felt like he needed to be punished for his part in Tony's disappearance. He'd known the man wasn't safe on the base with a CO and team of corpsmen who'd turned on him but he'd left him there anyways. He should've fought harder, either to make Tony return stateside with him or to make his boss let him stay to watch Tony's six.

He reached the edge of the base's hub, where he and Tony always slowed their jog to a walk and disappeared into the darkness of night. His feet felt like they were planted in cement and his heart clenched as he remembered their last encounter there, their last time making love. It had been so full of desire and passion that went far beyond scratching an itch. Next to Shannon, Tony was the only person Jethro had ever truly made love to. There had been occasional quick fucks before he'd been married and after he'd lost Shannon but that didn't even come close to comparing with what he had with those who truly held his heart.

He couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever make love to Tony again. Would he feel that deep connection that went far beyond anything else? Would he ever wrap the man in his arms again and press a kiss to his lips? Would he ever even see Tony again?

Initial excitement over the promising leads the Marines had reported on was dwindling as hours ticked into days with very little new information. The encryptions on the phone used to make the ransom call were making it nearly impossible to trace and there had been no new sightings of Tony or the pale yellow car.

Jethro had sat with the Marines watching live footage from the drone flying over the area Tony had last been seen. He'd geared up and gone out on the chopper to look for any sign of him or the pale yellow car on the ground. He'd begged to be dropped off in the village only to be denied by people who didn't want two missing Americans. It seemed all that was left to do was hurry up and wait for a new break but he'd never been very good at waiting, especially when the stakes were so high.

After one last longing look off into the distance where he and Tony had shared so many special moments, Jethro turned and headed back towards the command post. The run had helped in an odd way but he didn't want to stay gone too long. If there was a break in the case, he wanted to be there. Never again would he leave Tony to fend for himself.

The day dragged on the same as the last couple days had, eventually turning to night with no new information. Time started running together while they watched and waited but there was no sign of Tony, no chatter, no nothing. Fear settled deep in Jethro's gut as his mind went from one worst case scenario to the next. Tony was going to die, he knew it and it was all his fault. With very little to distract him, Jethro was spending more time lost deep in thought and the deeper he went, the darker his thoughts got and the darker his thoughts got, the harder it was to hide the effect Tony's disappearance was having on him.

"Go get some rest, Probie," Mike ordered gently.

"No," Jethro replied. "I'm good. I don't need rest."

Mike lowered his voice and softened his tone even more. "Jethro." He gave the man a look that confirmed he knew how much his partner was struggling. "I'll wake you up if anything happens. Go on, get outta here."

Jethro opened his mouth to protest again but a firm look from his boss made him think better of it and had him closing his eyes and nodding in surrender instead. Maybe a little time away would do him some good. He'd been cramped in that small room with all those bodies for hours. He needed some time to himself to think. He needed a chance to breathe.

The cool evening air felt good against Jethro's overheated skin. As he made his way to his room he wondered if Tony was being kept outside. If he was, he was probably cold. When they'd spent the night together outside, Tony had all but burrowed under him in search of body heat and perhaps a little something else. The memory brought a soft smile to Jethro's face and had him whispering a silent prayer that his lover wasn't cold. He vowed that if he ever got Tony back again, he'd never let him spend another night alone in the cold again, despite knowing that wasn't reasonable. Reasonable had gone out the window when he'd found out the man was missing. Jethro was ready to wrap Tony in bubble wrap and lock him in his closet if he thought it would protect him.

Once he found himself at the door of his room, the same room he'd been in the first time he'd set foot on the base, Jethro paused on the front step and stared up at the moon. He smiled as remembered putting on a show for the man in the moon and wondered if Tony could see the moon from wherever he was. He'd always felt closer to Tony when he was looking up at the moon. Much of the time they'd spent together was under the moon and stars in the early hours of the morning.

"Good night, Tony," he whispered before opening the door to his room and stepping inside.

* * *

Tony didn't have a clue how long he'd been locked in his dungeon-like cell. It felt like months even though he was guessing it was more like days. He tried to keep track of time by his feeding schedule. It seemed like his captors fed him once a day but he couldn't be sure of that. The only thing he was sure of was he was getting weaker and weaker and the coolness and dampness of the room was making his aches and pains worse.

He was so weak that when the hatch opened and footsteps sounded on the rickety, handcrafted steps he pushed himself up against the wall in a hopeless effort to get away from his attackers. Despite his closed eyes and the protective posture he'd taken up, Tony could hear a soft whimpering and what sounded like a body being dragged down the stairs behind the sure footsteps. The thuds stopped once they reached the bottom and turned to feet dragging across the soft floor.

Tony held his breath in anticipation of what might happen next. A final loud thud sounded as a body landed in a helpless heap with a pained grunt and the man who'd dragged it down disappeared back up the stairs and closed the hatch, letting it crash with an unforgiving bang.

There was silence for a long while until soft shuddery tears interrupted the quiet and woke Tony from the half conscious state his body had already slipped into.

"Hello?" he said softly.

The tears ended in a sharp, fearful gasp but no words were spoken.

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

The other person stayed quiet for so long that Tony wondered if they just weren't going to answer. "Jessica Rudner," a shaky voice replied.

"Welcome to hell, Jessica," Tony said cynically.

"Who are you?" the young woman asked as she sniffed back tears.

"Name's Tony," he answered weakly, not offering any more information.

"How long have you been here?"

Tony opened his mouth to answer and then closed it, realizing that he didn't have an answer. "I don't know," he said. He considered asking her what day it was but in the end he decided he didn't want to know.

Jessica's breath caught at Tony's answer as she realized what was in store for her. The questions stopped and the soft crying started again.

With no food in his stomach and no real sleep, Tony had almost no energy and his own depression had numbed his emotions. He wanted to comfort Jessica but even the idea of trying to make his way across the dark basement was overwhelming. "Sorry," he mumbled instead.

"This is bad, isn't it?" Jessica asked.

Tony hesitated only briefly before answering. "Yeah, it's bad."

* * *

Each day that passed with no new information had tensions growing more and more. The Marines were beginning to question the story the villagers had told them about the pale yellow car while at the same time wondering if Tony had been moved right under their noses in a different car.

"It's risky to move him," one of the Marines had pointed out. "We have that going for us."

"It's been days and there's been no sign of the car," another Marine had argued. "Does this guy not have a job? Errands to run? Does he not have a life? I'm not convinced this car exists. I mean, witnesses are notoriously unreliable."

"He may or may not exist," a third Marine, Matt, a communications specialist, said, "but that might not matter anymore. Trace came back on the ransom call. I got it narrowed down to a four mile radius."

"Four miles?" Mike asked skeptically. Four miles could mean endless possibilities. Some small towns in the U.S. could fit inside four miles with room left over.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Matt said, holding his finger up to stop everyone from speaking while he explained. "It's a little ways outside the village DiNozzo was taken from. There's not much out there unless you count a whole lot of desert but there are four houses. DiNozzo's gotta be in one of 'em."

"He is," Jethro said firmly. It wasn't the hopeful plea of a man who'd lost his lover. His words were spoken like fact.

"Gunny—"

"No, Mike," Jethro interrupted. "He's there. I can _feel_ it."

Mike scrutinized his second for a long moment before nodding and turning back to Matt. "What're we looking at, Marine?"

Matt changed from a map view to a satellite view as the drone operator fed new coordinates into his system, sending the drone to the new location. All four homes were grouped together and despite a small part of the village located just outside the four mile radius, the land surrounding the homes was barren.

Jethro studied the still satellite photos for a moment before pointing at a yellow blob next to one of the homes. "There," he said. "A small, pale yellow car."

With a few keystrokes Matt pulled up a screen of code in a new window. "Looks like these images are almost two years old," he said. "Let's hope our drone sees something similar."

"Two minutes out, guys," the drone operator reported.

The group held their breath as they moved over to the monitor with the drone footage and waited for it to arrive. It had taken several days but they all felt like there was hope again, like they might actually have a chance at getting Tony back.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: No Easy Answers**

"Now's your chance to stand up and be the leader you claim to be, Hammond," Mike said after slamming his fist angrily against the table. "Although right now I'd settle for you just being a man. Man up, Marine!"

He'd already talked to the corpsmen who'd left Tony on the ground and he'd been surprised to find himself feeling a little sorry for the group despite what they'd done. With the exception of one, they'd come across more as brainwashed victims who couldn't believe what they'd done and all it had taken for the other one, who'd started out arrogant and self-righteous, was a reminder that Tony was a person too, with friends and loved ones who loved and missed him and were worried to death about him. Asking the corpsman to put himself in Tony's shoes and his family in the place he'd put Tony's family in had wiped the smug look off the man's face and nearly brought him to tears.

Mike equated it with watching a curse being broken and the corpsmen returning to the compassionate, empathetic men they'd always been. He'd never seen such devastation on anyone's face before, let alone a whole unit, and he'd witnessed a lot of devastation during his time as an investigator. He'd also never believed anyone could be brainwashed so completely. That had changed too.

The only one left was Hammond, the mastermind, the one who wouldn't be easily broken. Mike had no sympathy for him and he doubted the man had ever had a compassionate, empathetic bone in his entitled body.

"I am a man!" Hammond insisted as he angrily jumped to his feet.

Mike, who'd moved behind him, shoved Hammond's chair into the back of the man's legs, dropping him to a sitting position unexpectedly with a loud, painful thud. "You don't know anything about what it is to be a man," he told him, his tone dangerous as if he were daring Hammond to argue with him. "Your daddy gave this to you." He ripped the rank patch off the man's uniform and threw it on the table in front of him. "And all you've done is use it for your own pleasure. Now you've got a trail of bodies in your wake and you think all you have to do is wait for Daddy to come save the day again. Well, you know what? There ain't nobody on this planet that can save you from me, Son."

Hammond's jaw twitched and his fists clenched on the table in front of him but he had the sense to remain silent until Mike left the room, slamming the door behind him with such force that it shook the walls. Once he was alone he brought both fists up and slammed them down onto the table with a curse.

* * *

After a little backdoor hacking, the Force Recon team was able to determine two of the suspected houses were home to single families with children, one was home to a group of three young men who'd recently moved out of their parents' homes and one was home to a single male that they couldn't find much information on. The team took that information and dug up anything and everything they could find on each person residing in each of the homes.

It wasn't long before more bulletin boards were brought in and filled with everything from school report cards to house floor plans and criminal records. With the exception of a failing grade in math, a speeding ticket and the father in one of the single family homes being fired for showing up late to work on a regular basis there wasn't anything remarkable about anyone they were investigating, at least on the surface.

"What's next?" Mike asked. "What's the plan?"

"Well," the Marine overseeing the search and rescue operation started, "we'll continue the twenty four hour surveillance with the drone. In addition to that we can do a few flyovers using our chopper with infrared technology to look at heat signatures. It might give us a more accurate idea of what's happening inside the houses but it doesn't come without risks."

"You'd have to fly lower than usual to get a reading," Jethro filled in.

"Uh-huh. Our choppers fly over that area on a fairly regular basis. They may not notice us flying lower or the kidnappers could be on high alert after taking a soldier and we could end up spooking them into killing Tony."

"There's one more thing," one of the other Marines added. "In order to get an accurate representation of what's going on in those houses, we'd have to do multiple flyovers, increasing the risk. We need to look at patterns though, not information from one random time."

Mike glanced at Jethro and was surprised to find him fairly calm. For once he was glad he didn't have to make the decision. Search and rescue ops overseas were high risk with no easy answers and no room for error.

"I think it's a calculated risk that we have to take," Brooks said, speaking up for the first time. He liked to listen and take everything in before offering his opinion.

"I agree," the Marine in charge of the op said. "We'll keep our flyovers unpredictable, sometimes at night, sometimes during the day. Maybe leak a story to the American news media about operations ramping up nearby to explain a little bit of increased activity. I'm sure the kidnappers will be watching to revel in the chaos they've caused and maybe get a hint about what we're going to do next. Hopefully that'll be enough to keep them from panicking. Meanwhile, we need to keep digging into these people's lives. I wanna know everything there is to know about them and I wanna know yesterday."

The Marines scurried back to work leaving Brooks standing in front of Mike with Jethro nearby.

"Looks like you've got things under control here," Mike said. "We're gonna take our corpsmen and Hammond and head back to the states to get to our part."

"I'm not leaving," Jethro said in shock before thinking better of it. "I mean, I'd like to stay here, be here when we get Tony back. He's gonna need to be debriefed and possibly a protection detail. That falls under NCIS's jurisdiction. I'd like to see this case through, Boss."

The harsh look on Mike's face faded into a grin as he listened to his second try to reason his way into staying. "That's weak, Probie," he said with a smile, "but I'll go with it on one condition. You stay outta Force Recon's hair. This isn't your show and this isn't a one man show. If I even catch wind of you sneaking off to play lone ranger or trying to take over running the op your ass will be on a plane back to the states so fast your head'll be spinning."

"Understood," Jethro replied.

"I'm serious. I hear otherwise and your ass'll be on the first flight outta here."

"That won't be necessary, Boss."

"Good."

* * *

After getting his scopes and night vision equipment all set up Jethro melted into the sand on the dune he was positioned on. A couple hundred feet to his right and left were two more Marines, positioned facing the same direction he was and centered behind them were a couple more Marines watching their sixes. Approximately fifteen hundred feet in front of them were four houses, one of which they were sure Tony was in.

They'd eliminated the two single family homes, narrowing it down to either the single male dwelling or the one with the three friends. The recon mission had been authorized in hopes of gathering more intel they couldn't gather from the drone and Jethro's past as a Scout Sniper had earned him an invitation on the outing. He knew it was just a courtesy invite. The team had operated just fine before he'd come along and they'd be fine once he returned stateside. His past as a Marine told them he could handle the mission and their human side knew how much it would mean to the former Marine turned investigator to feel like he was actually doing something instead of helplessly watching. The invitation had been an attempt reach out to the man on a personal level and Jethro had happily accepted, thankful for any opportunity to be out in the field doing something.

"Target in sight," the Marine to his right said.

"Target in sight," the Marine to his left echoed.

Each were responsible for watching one of the suspected houses. Jethro was there to watch both. Both were lit up like a lighthouse in the darkness of the moonless night.

"Any sign of the yellow car?" one of the Marines watching their flank asked. A pale yellow car would be a sure sign that they had the right house but it hadn't been spotted by the drone.

"Nothing yet but there appears to be a military style camo tarp covering something that could be a car in the backyard of the single male dwelling. It's too dark to see anything specific."

"That's gotta be the car," Jethro said. "I don't suppose we can sneak down there for a closer look?"

"As badly as I want to, Command would have my ass," the Marine in charge of the recon mission said sadly.

As tempted as Jethro was to defy the order to observe from a distance, he respected the chain of command and didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize his position in the search and rescue op or Tony's safety if he got caught. Even still, it was nearly impossible to be so close to Tony and yet still feel so far away from the man. It helped a little knowing he was watching over him from afar, so Jethro settled in for a long night of watching.

* * *

Jethro was surprised by how much more lonely he felt after his boss left. His room suddenly seemed bigger and time spent quietly by himself passed even slower. Outdoor runs didn't help, coffee didn't help, beating the punching bag in the makeshift gym until his knuckles were raw and bloody didn't help; he couldn't find any way to relieve the pain of losing Tony and suppressing that pain from everyone else was only making things worse.

Despite his best effort to hide his most private feelings, he had an inkling that Josh Brooks knew exactly what was going on and was trying to reach out to him but thankfully the man was still giving Jethro the space he needed to work through everything he was feeling which left the investigator feeling grateful rather than threatened.

"You coming to the briefing?" Brooks asked, dropping a gourmet looking blueberry muffin in front of the NCIS agent. He knew the man had just returned from spending all night on a sand dune. He also wasn't surprised in the least to find him still awake.

"I'm headed that way now," Jethro answered, picking up the muffin and looking at it before glancing up at Josh.

"Breakfast," Brooks explained casually, "most important meal of the day." He smiled at Jethro as he walked away, calling over his shoulder, "see ya in there."

Jethro watched the man walk away then looked down at the muffin. He wasn't usually a breakfast eater but it did look kind of good and he hadn't been able to stomach his dinner the night before. Maybe he'd be able to keep a couple bites of the muffin down.

Jethro half expected Tony to fall into place next to him as he made the short walk to the command center, taking a big bite out of the muffin as he walked. He saw Tony everywhere and even more than that, he felt the man. Sometimes it seemed like that made it easier and a little less lonely but often times it just made his heart ache even more when reality set in.

He took one last bite out of his breakfast then tossed what was left of it into the trash can as he stepped into the room where people were starting to gather. It would be a big day for them. They'd done as much surveillance as they could and gathered as much intel as they needed. It was time to make a decision and come up with a plan.

"So, we've narrowed it down to two houses," the Marine in charge of the op said after welcoming everyone to the briefing, "the single male dwelling and the one with the three males. I have my own thoughts but I wanna hear yours first along with your reasoning. Which house is DiNozzo being kept in?"

"I like the house with the three single males," one of the Marines said. "They have no jobs, they're not going to school. They're just playing with their parents' money. Kids who have no purpose in life almost always find trouble."

"I like the single male dwelling," one of the Marines who'd gone on the recon mission said. "The yellow car had to be hiding under that tarp in the backyard. Besides, three friends organizing an op like this? Unlikely. Somebody wouldn't be able to keep their mouth shut. Somebody would've blown it by now. A lone wolf has a better chance of pulling something like this off."

A few of the other Marines in the room took turns agreeing with both opinions, adding reasons of their own and backing the others while pointing out concerns at the same time. Ultimately it would be up to the Marine Commander but he was wise enough to understand the value of collaborative efforts and secure enough in his position to ask for input from the others.

The room quieted down after everyone had had their say but there was one person they hadn't heard from who Josh Brooks and the Marine Commander had already decided beforehand could offer some valuable input.

"What're your thoughts, Jethro?" Brooks asked.

Jethro looked from Brooks to the Marine Commander and around at the others in the room before speaking, knowing his opinion had a chance of being the unpopular one since he wasn't technically a real member of the team but he'd been asked for it so he was going to give them an honest one.

"I think Tony's being kept in the single male dwelling. Helo flyovers have consistently shown multiple people in the house and it doesn't seem to matter what time we fly over, they're always up and moving around. Three punk kids playing with their parents' money don't have the brains to pull off kidnapping and holding a member of the military hostage and even if they could, the ransom idea, it's too organized, too well planned. Senior got that call within twenty four hours of Tony being kidnapped and I know there's no way Tony gave up his old man. Whoever did this is educated and they have resources. They know what they're doing. That speaks to the single male, along with a group of what I'm guessing are thoughtfully chosen accomplices, not a group of childhood friends."

"Anything else?" Brooks asked, sensing Jethro was holding something back.

"Actually, yes. My gut."

"Guts are good," Brooks replied with a smile. "Thank you, Jethro."

The discussion continued until everyone had a chance to say everything they wanted to say. After a short break for Brooks and the Marine Commander to discuss moving forward, the group was called back together.

"Here's what we're gonna do," the Marine Commander said, "tonight a team of twelve of you will be inserted here," he said, pointing to a spot on the map about a mile and a half away from the location of the four houses. "We'll be operating under the assumption Tony's being kept in the single male dwelling. Ideally it'd be nice if you guys could confirm that the yellow car is under that tarp to heighten the chances we have the correct house but you guys are the ones who'll be on the ground. You have the authority to make the decisions that need to be made. Clear the house, get DiNozzo. If, God forbid, it's the wrong house and you feel confident about storming the three male dwelling without additional risks, do it. This isn't the way we usually run our ops but that's one of our own out there and we're running out of time and options. We owe it to him to do everything we can to get him back. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Just one, Commander," one of the Marines said. "When do we leave?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Sparks**

Josh Brooks came up behind Jethro before he boarded the chopper and clasped a hand on the man's back. "Can I have a word?" he asked, motioning for Jethro to step away from the group.

Jethro looked hesitantly at the group and reluctantly nodded, worrying he was being pulled from the op at the last minute. It'd be easy to say he was far too close to the situation or too emotionally tied up in it and force him to stay behind and that was the last thing he wanted.

"How ya doing with all this? I know this is personal for you."

"I'm fine, Sir," Jethro answered, anxiously glancing over his shoulder to make sure the others weren't boarding without him.

Brooks smiled patiently. "You don't have to bullshit me. You lost your family, Jethro, and even though it might not feel that way, it wasn't your fault. It doesn't make you any less of a man or Marine. Don't let fear paralyze you out there. You know what you need to do and you've been trained to do it. Let's get Tony back."

Jethro let himself relax and breathe again. Despite having every reason to, he wasn't being pulled from the mission after all. Brooks was proving over and over that he was a godsend after all the damage Hammond and Biggs had done. Every branch of the military needed men like Josh Brooks. He stood tall and saluted, lowering his hand with a sharply chanted, "Hoo-rah."

An hour later, two choppers hovered thirty feet over the dark desert while the Marines inside fast roped to the ground. There had been a lot of discussion over whether to land the choppers right outside the homes or drop the team off and let them trek to the homes, a quick assault or a stealthy approach. Because they weren't one hundred percent confident which of the two homes Tony was being held in, they'd decided on the more stealthy approach in case they needed time to change to their contingency plan. They could end up in a situation where every second mattered and going in silently would offer a few more seconds.

After they'd cleared the house and rescued Tony, the choppers would pick them up in the backyard, away from the direct line of view of the other homes nearby. As long as everything went according to plan, they'd be in and out of the house in under ten minutes and back in the air in thirty, after trekking through the desert.

In thirty minutes, Jethro would have Tony back, one way or another.

* * *

Tony was hungry, so hungry. He was dehydrated and there wasn't a part of his body that didn't ache. On top of that, depressed didn't even scratch the surface of how he felt emotionally. He'd long ago given up hope of ever being rescued. He doubted anyone who cared even knew he was missing. The corpsmen on his team hated him and he wouldn't have been surprised if Hammond had put them up to leaving him on the ground. He was guessing they'd all worked out a story to explain away his absence, a story that almost definitely made him out to be the bad guy and put a screeching halt on any sort of rescue mission. Now it was just a waiting game. He'd already come to terms with it and accepted it. He was going to die.

He made himself as comfortable as he possibly could and after another coughing bout passed, he closed his eyes, hoping to slip off into a troubled sleep. With any luck, he would die soon and be put out of his misery.

Just as Tony was beginning to drift off to sleep, he was startled awake by the sound of fighting above him. He had no idea what was going on but within seconds of the yelling and fighting, gunshots rang out. Tony curled himself into the fetal position. He could hear Jessica crying on the other side of the room and wanted to comfort her but he was so tired and so weak he couldn't even bring himself to speak.

On the first floor of the house, the team of Marines who'd breached after finding the pale yellow car under the tarp in the yard checked the pulses of the dead kidnappers and confiscated their weapons. With only five kidnappers dead and seven confirmed heat signatures when flying over the house on the way to the drop location, the Marines were still on high alert. They quickly and methodically cleared the upstairs before searching for the hatch that led to the downstairs bunker.

Furniture was moved and floor rugs were kicked aside until one of the Marines uncovered the entrance.

"Back here, guys," he reported.

Half the team stayed upstairs to stand guard while the other half opened the hatch and stormed the basement, night vision goggles on and weapons drawn. As they cleared the basement, they realized the sixth and seventh heat signatures were Tony and another hostage, not another kidnapper.

"We're all clear down here," one of the Marines reported into the microphone at his wrist, notifying the other team of what they'd found. "No more kidnappers. We've got two hostages down here."

Part of the group made a beeline for the girl while Jethro and the rest of the group headed towards Tony. Still unsure what was going on, Tony summoned what little strength he had left to fight against the hands that were all of a sudden on him. He could hear voices all around him but he was too busy trying to protect himself to expend the energy it took to try to understand what they were saying.

His struggling ended abruptly when arms much stronger than he could fight wrapped around him and held on tightly. Tony didn't stop trying to break free until he inhaled deeply and his senses were filled with the smell of Old Spice and coffee in a heady blend that told the corpsman exactly who was holding onto him. He stopped trying to break free and focused on the voice in his ear.

"It's me, Tony, Jethro. I've got you. You're safe now."

All Tony could do was cry silently as his lover held onto him for dear life. He wanted to shout for joy and hug the man back, tell him a million things and run out of the prison he'd been held in for so long but he was too weak to even stand on his own two feet for very long. All he could manage was a few whispered words. "Jethro, help me, please."

"I've got you," Jethro repeated.

"Let's get you out of here, DiNozzo," one of the other Marines said.

The other group had just taken Jessica up the rickety, narrow staircase after recognizing her as the humanitarian aid worker who'd gone missing the week prior. It took Jethro and one of the other Marines doing a fireman's carry to get Tony up the stairs and out of the house. The group upstairs keeping watch had already summoned the choppers back, telling them the area was clear and it was safe to land.

Minutes after pulling Tony out of the basement, he was safe on the chopper, being tended to by the corpsman who'd been waiting on the chopper just in case his services were needed. He was safe, he'd made it through. Someone had been looking for him after all and the only person in the world he really wanted to see was sitting next to him holding his hand.

* * *

Tony's eyes were just barely open but Jethro was positive they were focused on him as he laid in his hospital bed in the combat hospital at Kandahar Airfield. "You with me?" he asked softly.

Tony smiled in response. "'m here," he replied weakly. As he looked up at Jethro, partially in shock at the outcome of his ordeal and partially ecstatic at being reunited with the man who'd been on his mind ever since they'd met, his smile turned from adoring to devious.

"What?" Jethro asked, combing his fingers through Tony's short hair. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"You missed me, huh?" Tony asked. He struggled to get the words out but the spark that Jethro had fallen in love with was evident in the man's voice.

An amused grin found its way onto Jethro's face. Tony had only arrived in the hospital hours earlier. They'd been pumping him full of pain meds, fluids and IV antibiotics and as he started feeling better little by little, Jethro was seeing him come more and more alive and return to the Tony he'd left weeks ago. "I don't know what you're talking about," the investigator teased. "I'm just the NCIS agent sent to debrief you after your rescue."

"You love me," Tony countered. "Don't even try to deny it." He never would've said such a thing before he'd met Jethro but being held hostage and his experiences over the last several days had given him a remarkable bravery and desire to say everything he needed to say.

Jethro smiled almost shyly as he leaned down and rubbed noses with the man before pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. "You're right," he admitted. "I do."

"Good. Now that that's settled," Tony said as he reached up and wrapped his hand around Jethro's, moving it down to his chest and abdomen. "Give me a hand job," he said with a quiet determination that Jethro knew the man wouldn't let go of.

"No," Jethro replied with a gentle smile.

Tony's movements were slow and pained but he managed to push his hospital gown to one side, revealing his bruised and broken body. "Touch me, please?"

The devious smirk disappeared and a look that Jethro couldn't quite describe appeared. As Tony moved Jethro's hand all over his body, rubbing the man's fingers across his chest and nipples, torso and groin and back again, Jethro realized it was his lover's way of reconnecting; not sexual but by far one of the most intimate experiences Jethro had ever had.

He patiently let Tony use his hand for a moment before he took over, enjoying the physical connection after so much time apart and so much fear that they'd never be reunited. His fingers found Tony's face and neck as his lips connected with his lover's. He brushed his hands across the man's strong, broad shoulders and down his arms before slipping into bed next to him, tucking one arm behind Tony to hold him close and resting the other directly over the man's heart.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this," Tony said tiredly, "but I think this might be better than a hand job."

Jethro grinned and brushed his nose against Tony's cheek before pressing a long, loving kiss to it. "I couldn't agree more."

* * *

Two days after he'd been brought in to the hospital, Tony was really starting to get antsy. He was eating solid foods and moving around on his own. His pain was manageable with over the counter anti-inflammatories and he didn't see any reason he needed to continue occupying valuable space in one of the few hospitals in the areas.

After using his persuasive powers on the doctor, the man had finally agreed, despite being reluctant.

 _"Come on, doc,"_ he'd pleaded, _"I'm pretty much a doctor too. I know what I'm getting myself into."_

 _"You're not helping your case any,"_ the doctor had replied. _"Doctors are the worst patients."_

Tony sat across the picnic table from Jethro, sharing a tray of French fries while they waited for the discharge to be finalized and the chopper that would take them back to Camp Phoenix.

"You know you can talk to me, right, Tony?" Jethro said. Despite his best efforts to put up a normal front, the investigator knew he was sitting across from a very different Tony than he'd left weeks earlier.

"I know," Tony replied. He quietly snacked on the fries for a while longer before speaking again. "What's today's date, Jethro?"

"July 22," Jethro answered. "Why?"

"Just wondering how long till my deployment's up," Tony said solemnly. "Guess I missed it."

Jethro had never seen the man so quiet and unsure of himself. His confidence had been shaken in a big way. "We'll head home as soon as we can get a flight outta here," he replied, hurting for Tony.

"Where're the guys?"

"Let's not worry about them right now."

"I have to," Tony said, beginning to get agitated. "They're my brothers and I know what you're thinking but families stick together through thick and thin."

"They didn't stick by you, Tony," Jethro reasoned gently. "They left you for dead."

Tony went from agitated to pleading, his eyes welling up with tears. "Please, I have to know. Where are they?"

"They're back with their families," Jethro answered reluctantly. "Dishonorable discharge."

"No," Tony pleaded, shaking his head. "No, they didn't know. Corruption starts at the top. Soldiers are trained to follow orders. That's all the guys were doing. I know it. Hammond brainwashed them."

"And that's why JAG is thinking real hard about whether or not to court martial them, Tony, but they can't go unpunished and they certainly can't be sent back out in the field after what they did."

"I did this," Tony whispered sadly.

"No, Tony," Jethro replied, watching helplessly as Tony experienced a slew of emotions in a matter of minutes. "They did this."

"Well it feels like my fault."

"I'm gonna help you with that."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: West Coast. East Coast.**

Tony sat in the back of the warm courtroom in Washington DC, his stomach turning as he stared at the man on the witness stand. He'd already given his testimony, as limited as it was and he was thankful his part was done but he couldn't resist sticking around until the proceedings were over and the verdict was delivered.

"Did you see the defendant, Cole Hammond, at all on the morning of July 2nd?"

"I did," Ozzy answered. "He came out to the chopper while the guys and I were loading up our gear."

"Was the whole team present and helping load gear?" the prosecutor asked.

"Everyone except DiNozzo," Ozzy answered.

"Was it unusual to see your CO before your shift like that?"

"It was a little out of the ordinary. He usually didn't check in with us without a reason."

"And what was his reason that day?" the prosecutor asked.

Ozzy frowned as he made eye contact with Hammond who was sitting at the defense table. He didn't want to answer the question; he wanted no part in any of the trial but he had no choice. "Hammond informed the team that Tony was the rat who got Bowles kicked off the team and the reason Biggs had been sent back to the States. He blamed Tony for all the chaos that was going on on base and thought he should be punished for it."

"Did Hammond recommend a punishment or was that left up to someone else?"

"Hammond told us he'd been hearing rumors that DiNozzo was planning on deserting his post and that if we came back without him, that was how he'd write his report," Ozzy answered reluctantly. "The implication seemed to be for us to leave DiNozzo behind while we were picking up a patient."

"Objection!" the defense cut in. "The witness can't speak to what my client was implying."

"The guys and I got the impression that Hammond wanted us to leave DiNozzo behind on one of our calls that day," Ozzy rephrased.

Tony stood and quietly made his exit. He'd heard enough and he really couldn't stomach listening to anymore that day. Amidst the crowd of people, he walked out of the courthouse unnoticed, got into his rental car and headed towards his hotel room. Thirty minutes later he was in a bathtub full of almost too hot water, letting the warmth ease the tension in his body as he held the phone to his ear.

"This is Gibbs," the person on the other end of the phone said.

Tony smiled at the sound of the other man's voice. Jethro had stuck by him through thick and thin. It was the first time they'd been apart since the man had rescued him but Jethro was needed on the west coast. "I miss you, Gunny. Wish you were here with me."

"I wish I was too. Court over for the day already?"

"No. I've heard enough though. As soon as they read the verdict, I'm on the first plane to LAX."

"My boss approved my time off," Jethro told the man. "Think things'll be wrapped up there in a week?"

"I'm guessing we'll hear closing statements tomorrow or Wednesday, then it's up to the jury. Now that I know you're off though, I'll definitely be on a plane headed your way this weekend."

"No, you need to stay through the verdict. I want you to have closure. If the trial's still going or the jury's still deliberating I'll head your way. We'll get it all worked out."

Tony relaxed further into the bathtub as a genuine peace washed over him. The last thing he wanted was for Jethro to waste money and vacation time sitting in DC waiting for a verdict but just the fact that the man was willing to do that for him spoke volumes about their relationship.

"Whatcha doin'?" Jethro asked.

"Taking a bath," Tony answered. "All I need is a big, strong Marine to help me wash behind my ears," he paused for effect and smiled, "and maybe a few other places."

Jethro smiled too, even though he knew he couldn't have _that_ conversation at the moment. "I'm still at work," he said regretfully.

"That's too bad, 'cause I _really_ miss you." He frowned when he heard Mike Franks' voice in the background.

"I miss you too, Tony," Jethro said quietly, "I gotta go. See ya soon."

Tony held onto the phone for a long moment after Jethro hung up. He wished more than anything that the man was there with him but at least they had the following week to spend together with no chance of being interrupted. Hopefully by then the verdict would be in, Hammond would be locked away and he would start feeling better. He hadn't been himself since his team had left him on the ground back in late June and try as he might he couldn't seem to get himself back to normal or hide it from Jethro, although thankfully the man was being very gracious about the whole situation.

It didn't help that he had a life changing decision hanging over his head; a decision that would most definitely change everything in one way or another. He feared if he made the wrong choice he'd disappoint Jethro. He didn't know what to do and he was overwhelmed with trying to figure it out.

All Tony really wanted was his life back but he wasn't quite sure how to make that happen. Maybe justice would make that happen. Justice and making his decision about whether or not to re-up and then telling the man he loved what he'd decided.

* * *

Physically Tony was sitting next to Jethro in the cab of the truck, staring out at the ocean as the man drove down Highway 1 but mentally he was a million miles away, mulling over everything that had happened and was still yet to happen. It had only taken the jury ninety minutes to find Hammond guilty of every charge the prosecution had brought up against him and the judge hadn't taken much longer than that to inform him he'd be spending the rest of his days tucked away in a not so cozy cell in Leavenworth.

Tony had arrived at Jethro's in the very early hours of Thursday morning and had been scolded by the man for not letting him know he was coming so he could pick him up at the airport.

Then they'd made love.

Jethro may have been exhausted at work the following day but he'd been in a much better mood than usual.

Now, two days later, Jethro was driving towards some secret location where he'd told Tony they were going to spend the rest of the week. Curiously there were no suitcases full of clothing or travel itineraries, just a twelve pack of beer they'd picked up at the gas station down the road from Jethro's house.

If the lack of chatter coming from the passenger seat next to him wasn't enough to disturb Jethro, the faraway look in Tony's eyes certainly did the trick. "What's wrong, Tony?" he asked.

Tony's trance broke and he looked over at his lover. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Well, you haven't offered to give me road head yet, for one," Jethro teased lightly.

That not only brought a smile to Tony's face, it helped him relax a little. "Before we get wherever we're going that you won't tell me, I think maybe I better tell you something, in case you change your mind about this or us or whatever."

"Okay," Jethro replied patiently, although there were very few things Tony could've admitted to that would make him change his mind.

"I've given it a lot of thought," Tony said hesitantly, "and I'm getting out of the Navy." Once the confession had been made he started speaking quickly, trying to explain himself before Jethro could object or be disappointed. "I don't think I can do it anymore, Jethro. That trust is gone and it's been replaced with paranoia. If I re-up, there's a high probability I'd be redeployed and I just don't think I can put my life in other people's hands any more. Please don't be disappointed with me."

"Disappointed?" Jethro asked. "Is this what's been bothering you, Tony?"

Tony shrugged sheepishly, still unsure of how the man was going to react. He was terrified he was going to lose another friend, the only one he had left.

Jethro crooked his finger at Tony and when the man leaned closer, he reached behind him and lightly smacked the back of his head.

"What was that for?" Tony asked in shock as he rubbed at the spot. "I thought you were gonna give me a kiss or something."

"That was for not telling me sooner. You're giving yourself an ulcer over this when it's nothing. I'm not disappointed in you. I couldn't be prouder. Tony, I don't care if you decide you wanna sell coconuts on the beach. That won't change my feelings for you and it won't take away any of the pride I feel. You get out there and do what makes you happy, be who you wanna be. That's all I want for you."

"Really?" Tony asked in surprise.

Jethro nodded and watched as all the stress and tension from everything he'd been through seemed to leave Tony's body. There couldn't have been a better conversation to start their vacation because all Jethro really wanted for Tony was for the man to find some peace so he could rediscover the happy go lucky self that had gone missing in the small village in Afghanistan.

Tony reached for Jethro's hand and held on tightly. "Do you think I could have that kiss now?"

Jethro was more than happy to oblige and he would follow it up by a week in his friend's luxury beachfront home where they could order in pizza and Chinese food, enjoy bonfires on the beach, wake to the salty ocean breeze warming their skin and best of all, they didn't even have to put clothes on if they didn't want to because there was no one else around for at least a mile in either direction. After all the sneaking around, enduring interruptions and residing in different time zones, they could enjoy being together, just the two of them with no possibility of anyone else getting in the way.

* * *

 **EPILOGUE**

 _Eighteen Months Later_

Tony groaned as Jethro tilted his legs back just enough to allow himself to push into his body even farther. The man was deep inside him already and it wasn't his above average length that left Tony feeling fuller than he ever had before, it was the way the man was wholly possessing his body as he made love to him. Tony's dick strained, raising up off of his belly in invitation for Jethro to wrap his hand around it and play, an invitation the man gladly accepted.

Whispered words of encouragement had ended long ago, turning to demanding grunts and pleading whimpers as an experience like neither of them had ever had before barreled all too quickly towards an end. In an effort to slow them both down, Jethro turned long, quick strokes into slower, short strokes, rubbing purposefully against all the right spots inside Tony's body.

Tony's head fell back almost in slow motion and his eyes slipped closed as he blindly grabbed for his lover. Jethro lowered his center of gravity as he watched his lover but the expressions on Tony's face were doing nothing to slow him down. Tony groaned Jethro's name and wrapped his hand around his lover's hand that was on his dick but he was stopped when he tried to start stroking.

"Slow down," Jethro urged. "I wanna enjoy you."

"I'm enjoying you a little too much," Tony replied.

Jethro slowed his hips to a stop, lowered his body onto Tony's and started kissing the man all over his face, neck and shoulders. As the kissing went on, Tony wrapped his legs around Jethro's hips and slowly started rocking his body, prompting Jethro to join in and soon they were moving in tandem, picking up the pace as the excitement once again grew to near climax.

"Do it, Jethro," Tony huffed desperately.

"Fuck," Jethro grunted, knowing there was no more stalling.

He lengthened his strokes, pushing firmly into Tony and rubbing his belly roughly against the man's throbbing dick sandwiched between their bodies. It was only a matter of seconds before Jethro felt the warm gush against his belly which in turn caused him to lose himself with a shuddery breath and whispered curse of completion.

Their bodies didn't stop moving together until the sensitivity became too much and they were forced to. After easing out of Tony, Jethro dropped to the bed next to the man and tugged him closer. He settled in, throwing an arm across Tony's midsection and nuzzling his nose into his lover's hair.

"I don't wanna get back in the truck," Tony mumbled, interrupting the peaceful quiet of the Friday morning.

"We're almost there," Jethro pointed out.

"But this hotel is pretty nice. Can't we just live here?"

Jethro grinned as he nipped playfully at Tony's ear before rolling out of bed and heading off to the bathroom. "I'm gonna get a shower," he called over his shoulder before pausing and peeking around the corner to the room where Tony was still sprawled out in bed. "Feel free to join me."

And just like that Tony had his answer but all of a sudden it didn't seem so bad.

Just over six hours later, Tony pulled into the parking lot of the Harbor View Apartments on the outskirts of Washington DC and circled the large lot until he found a parking spot. The tiny bit of apprehension he felt over where he was was eased as soon as he looked over at Jethro and the man offered him a smile.

"Our new home," Tony said, reaching for the man's hand. "What do you think?"

"Looks nice so far," Jethro replied, looking around at their surroundings. "You can see the Potomac from here. Not the same as the Pacific Ocean but it'll do."

Leaving California had been difficult for both of them and had required a lot of back and forth discussion but in the end a chance for a fresh start had won out. Jethro had been given an opportunity to follow Mike Franks to NCIS headquarters on the Navy Yard and be promoted to Senior Field Agent and Tony had accepted a job with the DC branch of the same ambulance company he'd been working for in California, a job that had allowed him to continue doing what he enjoyed under more manageable circumstances while he went to school to get his degree in law enforcement, a decision inspired by Jethro and all the man had done to help him when he needed it most.

"And the Atlantic isn't far from here," Tony added. They both loved the water and leaving the warmth and beautiful Pacific Ocean behind had been a big mark on the 'cons' side of their list but in the end it had lost out to all the possibilities a fresh start offered.

The two grabbed their duffle bags then headed inside, checked in and received their keys. All the paperwork had been done beforehand via fax and email, deposits had been paid and everything was in place with the exception of furniture which they still needed to purchase but that could wait until the following day.

After a quick elevator ride to the ninth floor and a short walk down the hall, the two stopped in front of their door.

"This is a special occasion," Tony said. "I should carry you over the threshold or something. Come here."

"You're not carrying me anywhere," Jethro grumped as he playfully jabbed at Tony with the key to the front door.

"You could carry me," Tony suggested.

"I'll carry you somewhere..."

"I don't think I like the tone of that."

Jethro threw a smile over his shoulder at his lover as he unlocked the door. He pushed it open and let Tony enter ahead of him. The first thing they saw was a colorful sunset over the Potomac through their floor to ceiling windows, a sight that put them both at ease.

"I already feel at home," Tony said, sliding his arm around Jethro's waist as he let himself relax.

A smile crept onto Jethro's face as he wrapped his arm around Tony and held him close. Any remaining fear that they'd made the wrong decision faded and was replaced with the knowledge that they would both be okay as long as they stuck together.

The heartache of a wife and daughter gone too soon and the harsh memories of people once considered family turning their backs and violating that bond so horribly it required learning to trust again were a five day drive and thousands of miles away on the west coast. The east coast offered new chances for new memories and new beginnings and the promise of a life filled with endless possibilities, a life lived together.

Jethro held Tony even tighter, leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lover's cheek. "Welcome home."

 **The End**


End file.
